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The engineering physics courses at the University of Illinois have had "pre-flight" quizzes like this for years. It definitely encouraged me to do the readings
by faitswulff 12y ago
The engineering physics courses at the University of Illinois have had "pre-flight" quizzes like this for years. It definitely encouraged me to do the readings and understand the material before attending lecture.
I wonder if they might have been made more effective by "interleaving" different topics like the article suggests, as opposed to just quizzing students on the topic of the day's lecture.
- stephenbez 12y agoAnother thing I really liked about those physics courses at UIUC is that you were never surprised at the material you were tested on. This was because the exams for the previous 4 semesters were available for you to use for practice and included answers. It was so useful identifying a gap in your knowledge before the test and being able to study to fix it instead of the normal procedure where you don't realize how little you know until it's too late and you have already failed the test.
- danieltillett 12y agoThis works really well with improving the student's understanding of the subject, but it comes at the expense of pulling down your performance review as a professor - students just don't like having to do (any) work and will punish any lecturer who pushes them to perform to their ability. I had to maintain a score of above 3.5 out of 5. I would push the students as hard as I could and just keep my score above that level (my aim was 3.6 to 3.7). The constant complaint of my students was the high workload, but since I was trying to optimise for their learning rather than my own promotion, I was able to pack more into one subject than would fit in two of my colleagues subjects.