4 ms·
> In the case of testing it’s because you choose to focus on the obviously bad thing (current state of testing) rather than the very complex and difficult quest
by einpoklum 4y ago
> In the case of testing it’s because you choose to focus on the obviously bad thing (current state of testing) rather than the very complex and difficult question behind it: HOW do you measure knowledge? And when you decide how, how do you scale it?
I would actually focus on the question of "Why do I need to quantify everybody's knowledge at a high resolution?"
When I was TAing, I held the position - never accepted I should say - that we should make more courses pass/fail; and instead of investing effort in the numeric grading keys, try to give more meaningful feedback on assignments.
Some alternative suggestions I brought up:
* I suggested that the final grade be a combination of the assessment a roll of 1D6 points - to hammer it in that the grading is to a great extent artificial. Somehow this was even less popular of a suggestion...
* I once proposed we offer people a perfect passing grade if they just never show up to class nor submit anything, and only people who want to learn would risk an imperfect grade. I really liked that proposal, because it put the two motivations - learning and making the grade - which are often conflated, at direct odds with each other.
Of course none of this was taken seriously - even though I was serious. Kind of.