Timeline for A student in my course does well on exams, but doesn't do the homework: Go easy on them, or make them "pay the price?"
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
17 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 13, 2023 at 17:59 | comment | added | Zaz | I'm not trying to tell you what to do or imply that you're doing anything wrong. Your thinking is perfectly natural and most educators feel that way. But the teacher who will always stick in my memory is one who replied to a comment very much like your first quote with kindness. She used her lunch break to tutor me a bit in chemistry. It made such a difference. It's making me tear up just thinking about it. | |
| May 13, 2023 at 17:45 | comment | added | Zaz | Please, please do not base your grade on your perception of the student's attitude. It's very easy for someone who doesn't give a flying f*@& about your class to butter you up. It's also very easy for somebody who's going through a hard time to be rough around the edges. The first quote you mentioned actually presents the bigger opportunity to make an impact on the student. Give them the benefit of the doubt. Ask if there's anything going on outside of school— maybe you can connect them with resources that can help. Invite them to office hours. A little kindness can go a long way. | |
| Nov 24, 2015 at 13:49 | comment | added | Chris Cirefice | @ff524 In some contexts I can tell you (anecdotally) that completing homework is not equivalent to understanding/mastering the material. In my French and Japanese classes, I put homework on the back-burner because it's worth a minimal part of the grade and I work two jobs so it's hard to keep up with the 2-4 hours per night of work. However, I do fine on the exams and am not failing to master the languages. Of course doing the homework would help, but it's not necessary. | |
| Nov 24, 2015 at 9:25 | comment | added | Sumyrda - remember Monica | @reirab Agreed. Your argument also holds for chemistry classes with a lab portion or math/cs classes which require programming. It's for the instructor to decide which way is better for their class. But they should make a conscious decision about it and not just go with mandatory homework by default. | |
| Nov 24, 2015 at 9:18 | comment | added | reirab | @Sumyrda For engineering in particular, having only theory courses with no practical experience usually doesn't produce good engineers (and, of course, the reverse usually doesn't either.) | |
| Nov 24, 2015 at 9:16 | comment | added | reirab | @Sumyrda I've both heard that argument and had classes designed that way in the U.S., too. It works well for classes like math, chemistry, or some CS theory classes, IMO. The students are adults and should be able to figure out whether they need the homework or not. On the other hand, like ff524 mentioned, in many engineering classes, the projects are really the only way to demonstrate that you've actually mastered the material (and, IMO, probably really the only way to master it in the first place.) | |
| Nov 24, 2015 at 6:55 | comment | added | Sumyrda - remember Monica | @tonysdg That's interesting, because over here I've heard the opposite argument: We should make homework voluntary and students should be grown up enough to decide whether or not they need to do it in order to learn the material. "Learn the material one way or another - how you do it is your responsibility - but if you don't use the offered learning material (homework) then don't whine about it if you fail the exam." | |
| Nov 24, 2015 at 1:50 | comment | added | ff524 | @eykanal I see. I use homework and lab work so that students can demonstrate that they can apply the material to problems that aren't feasible in an exam setting. In that case, waiving the requirement isn't a good idea, since that student never has the chance to demonstrate mastery of the course material. If the only purpose of an assignment is to get students to practice the material, I don't grade it (I just warn them that if they don't do it, they'll probably fail the exam.) | |
| Nov 24, 2015 at 1:37 | comment | added | tonysdg | @otakucode: Just to play devil's advocate - a major part of an undergrad education (in the U.S. at least) is also ensuring that students have some measure of personal responsibility and maturity as they enter the workforce. So homework may be a "bureaucratic hoop to jump through", but isn't a significant portion of life (taxes/bills/the DMV) a "bureaucratic hoop to jump through"? I agree that homework should first and foremost reinforce the material - but I also see a secondary use as being a means of teaching "if you don't follow through on responsibilities, bad things can happen". | |
| Nov 24, 2015 at 0:52 | comment | added | otakucode | @Voo If your grade weights homework highly enough that not doing the homework can destroy your grade, then yes, your course is grading the students ability to jump through bureaucratic hoops primarily, with learning put in a distant second place. Personal responsibility is great, but why should a lack of it make a grade which dishonestly says 'the student did not learn the material'? | |
| Nov 23, 2015 at 21:30 | comment | added | eykanal | @ff524 - I've seen many teachers assign homework to force students to practice the material. Others have it as a core requirement, as part of the learning process itself. It really depends on the teacher and the teaching method. | |
| Nov 23, 2015 at 21:08 | comment | added | Voo | @ff524 In my opinion homework is to teach the students the material, while the exams check whether (and how well) they've mastered it. To be exceedingly hyperbolic: Do you really think the goal of a course isn't to learn the taught material, but to demonstrate that you can jump through bureaucratic hoops? I've seen courses where homework was voluntary (you could earn bonus points though). We're dealing with adults - fostering some personal responsibility strikes me as one of the most valuable things you can learn in university. | |
| Nov 23, 2015 at 20:10 | comment | added | Joshua Taylor | @eykanal If a student hands in completed homework assignments, and completes exams, and the overall grade would be passing, but discussions with the student reveal that they really don't understand the material (maybe they got lucky on assignments and exams), should they fail (since they don't actually grasp the material) or pass on a technicality (they completed homework assignments and exams), too? | |
| Nov 23, 2015 at 19:48 | comment | added | ff524 | If the homework is a "technicality," why are you making the other students do it? If completing the homework isn't really necessary for demonstrating mastery of the course material, then you need to rethink your grading scheme. (And/or your homework.) | |
| Nov 23, 2015 at 19:47 | comment | added | eykanal | @ff524 - Personally, if I could be convinced that the student really had time management issues, I would consider waiving part or all of the homework requirement. The student is clearly learning the material, which is the overall goal anyways; if they're succeeding, why fail them on a technicality? | |
| Nov 23, 2015 at 19:46 | comment | added | ff524 | As an instructor, there isn't much you can do with "I would love to do it but I simply don't have time," except perhaps to offer some time management advice (or advise the student to drop the class, if that's still possible.) | |
| Nov 23, 2015 at 19:45 | history | answered | eykanal | CC BY-SA 3.0 |