3 ms·

I think the only defense of the new model is that it forces students to learn throughout the semester, rather than just before the exam. Which is easier and mor

I think the only defense of the new model is that it forces students to learn throughout the semester, rather than just before the exam. Which is easier and more effectively engages long term memory (like doing more rounds of spaced repetition). I definitely could tell the difference, though most of the time I just studied full 4-7 days before the exam.

Al-Khwarizmi 6mo ago
Yes, it does have some advantages. Apart from what you mention, another one is that it's not so consequential to e.g. sleep badly the night before an important exam. It's just that I find the disadvantages to be much greater than the advantages.
mattmanser 6mo ago
In the UK they claimed that girls did worse on one-off exams and so the one-off exams structure favoured boys. When course had more graded coursework, girls did better. So that was the justification used to switching to a less impactful final exam. No idea how true that is. We were also told learning a phonetic alphabet was better for young children learning to read than using the old ABC system. As far as I have heard, that turned out to be based on one person's fantasy and zero evidence and has actually had negative impact on children learning to read.
- kelipso 6mo ago
  Getting the feeling most education research papers are written by high school teachers lol.
- cornholio 6mo ago
  That sounds like a good reason to keep the exam model, since boys are already at a strong and widening educational disadvantage compared to girls.
  - andai 6mo ago
    That would make sense if the stated goals were the actual goals.
    - inemesitaffia 6mo ago
      You can still (with some difficulty) take the old style exam
- rgblambda 6mo ago
  The UK has a real problem with pseudoscientific nonsense invading the education system. To my knowledge they still teach about audio/visual/kinetic learners and how you should structure the way you learn around which one you are. This has been debunked for decades.
  - seanmcdirmid 6mo ago
    > The UK has a real problem with pseudoscientific nonsense invading the education system. Not just the UK, pedagogy/education is a very soft science, along with any other field that revolves around human behavior (psychology, sociology, etc...). Using AIs in experiments and studies will be an improvement even if they do not accurately reflect human behavior, just because you don't need a harm review and you can repeat your experiments multiple times under different variables.
wongarsu 6mo ago
When I studied CS in Germany in the 2010s (also in the Bologna Bachelor/Master system) most courses had weekly graded assignments. But the assignments didn't count towards your grade, instead you needed to reach a certain total of points to be allowed to take the exam. The actual grade was entirely composed of midterm and final exam (pen and paper exams, no computers, no multiple choice). It was easy to cheat on the assignments. Working on them in groups was common and sometimes encouraged. The only person you could really cheat was yourself (and a TA who had to grade one more exam)
Telemakhos 6mo ago
If seven days of study are sufficient to pass the class, why is so little material being taught in one semester? It sounds like the exams are far too easy.
- Eisenstein 6mo ago
  They are cramming for 5-7 days. This is not sustainable for an entire semester.
  - necovek 6mo ago
    Cramming and thus not keeping almost any of it in long-term memory or operational knowledge.

Al-Khwarizmi 6mo ago

Yes, it does have some advantages. Apart from what you mention, another one is that it's not so consequential to e.g. sleep badly the night before an important exam. It's just that I find the disadvantages to be much greater than the advantages.

mattmanser 6mo ago

In the UK they claimed that girls did worse on one-off exams and so the one-off exams structure favoured boys. When course had more graded coursework, girls did better. So that was the justification used to switching to a less impactful final exam. No idea how true that is. We were also told learning a phonetic alphabet was better for young children learning to read than using the old ABC system. As far as I have heard, that turned out to be based on one person's fantasy and zero evidence and has actually had negative impact on children learning to read.

kelipso 6mo ago
Getting the feeling most education research papers are written by high school teachers lol.
cornholio 6mo ago
That sounds like a good reason to keep the exam model, since boys are already at a strong and widening educational disadvantage compared to girls.
- andai 6mo ago
  That would make sense if the stated goals were the actual goals.
  - inemesitaffia 6mo ago
    You can still (with some difficulty) take the old style exam
rgblambda 6mo ago
The UK has a real problem with pseudoscientific nonsense invading the education system. To my knowledge they still teach about audio/visual/kinetic learners and how you should structure the way you learn around which one you are. This has been debunked for decades.
- seanmcdirmid 6mo ago
  > The UK has a real problem with pseudoscientific nonsense invading the education system. Not just the UK, pedagogy/education is a very soft science, along with any other field that revolves around human behavior (psychology, sociology, etc...). Using AIs in experiments and studies will be an improvement even if they do not accurately reflect human behavior, just because you don't need a harm review and you can repeat your experiments multiple times under different variables.

wongarsu 6mo ago

When I studied CS in Germany in the 2010s (also in the Bologna Bachelor/Master system) most courses had weekly graded assignments. But the assignments didn't count towards your grade, instead you needed to reach a certain total of points to be allowed to take the exam. The actual grade was entirely composed of midterm and final exam (pen and paper exams, no computers, no multiple choice). It was easy to cheat on the assignments. Working on them in groups was common and sometimes encouraged. The only person you could really cheat was yourself (and a TA who had to grade one more exam)

Telemakhos 6mo ago

If seven days of study are sufficient to pass the class, why is so little material being taught in one semester? It sounds like the exams are far too easy.

Eisenstein 6mo ago
They are cramming for 5-7 days. This is not sustainable for an entire semester.
- necovek 6mo ago
  Cramming and thus not keeping almost any of it in long-term memory or operational knowledge.