tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post6436744827197357620..comments2023-10-15T04:23:50.187-04:00Comments on College Misery: Open Book?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-71567694164377341722013-04-24T18:15:47.647-04:002013-04-24T18:15:47.647-04:00This semester, I gave students all of the essay qu...This semester, I gave students all of the essay questions in advance so that they could pick one and prep for it. They could bring in 1 3x5 notecard with handwritten notes (that I collected along with their blue books). It worked pretty well. Most of them got Bs. <br /><br />I borrowed this idea from my undergrad Philosophy proffies, but their twist was that they'd give us 5 questions but BurntChromehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06055976331443607569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-58790622777095714752013-04-24T15:38:19.867-04:002013-04-24T15:38:19.867-04:00How about open everything, not just open book?How about <a href="http://blogs.kcrw.com/whichwayla/2013/04/cheating-to-learn-how-a-ucla-professor-gamed-a-game-theory-midterm" rel="nofollow">open <i>everything</i></a>, not just open book?<br /><br /><br /><br />Southern Bubba, Ph.D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/12050992903794385204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-8712178780884846552013-04-24T10:16:39.530-04:002013-04-24T10:16:39.530-04:00Give 'em a sample question or two. It isn'...Give 'em a sample question or two. It isn't too hard to cook up a question that's in the ballpark of something you want to ask.<br /><br />It won't help that much, of course: no matter how much you emphasize otherwise, students will assume that your sample questions totally delineate the content and understanding you want them to master, and will ignore all other content. This inThree Sigmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10822893039310439770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-34533826724897061372013-04-24T10:10:04.143-04:002013-04-24T10:10:04.143-04:00I teach a few courses online, and in the process o...I teach a few courses online, and in the process of developing them, I gave a lot of thought to my exams. Obviously, even if you time it, an online exam is open book. At least for literature and writing, this is not a problem, and I think for most other disciplines as well. It allows you to focus entirely on brief (as opposed to the kind they'd do in a full essay) analysis. I think, as Bellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15686242633678466958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-71439544594079315712013-04-24T04:20:27.046-04:002013-04-24T04:20:27.046-04:00The resource sheet is also my go-to MO (unless I w...The resource sheet is also my go-to MO (unless I want to really nail 'em, as Archie describes above--I have one class this term that I'll be cursing with a full open-book exam). <br /><br />In the digital age, I also think training them as info curators is something at least as valuable as exhorting them to know the same info offhand. For better or worse, this is how information Edna Expathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11438002061912782295noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-74224944423314146022013-04-24T00:16:08.434-04:002013-04-24T00:16:08.434-04:00Whenever I was allowed to use one while I was a st...Whenever I was allowed to use one while I was a student, I often put more information than I needed on them.<br /><br />Whenever I allowed my students to make their own, I told them the same thing. I didn't need to use obscure details in the exams I set. Just asking basic concepts was enough to confuse many of them.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-39672683360900762372013-04-24T00:12:09.779-04:002013-04-24T00:12:09.779-04:00I never officially suggested using pre-completed e...I never officially suggested using pre-completed exams, but I'm sure that the administrators in my department would have approved.<br /><br />I'm serious, and I'll tell you why.<br /><br />One day, I was in one of the numerous meetings I had with my last department head and the assistant in which I had to be reminded that there were students who didn't like me. I jokingly Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-50555201802967880562013-04-23T23:25:59.678-04:002013-04-23T23:25:59.678-04:00I've done the "resource sheet" in th...I've done the "resource sheet" in the past. The only requirement was that it was handwritten and not photocopied (or more importantly, not reduced at all). They had to make a new one for each test, since I collected, analyzed, and destroyed them. At least the good ones. Those that didn't follow the rules got theirs back with a HUGE deduction from their exam.Pat from Peoriahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10005657976057072299noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-31390393194310821102013-04-23T22:41:36.445-04:002013-04-23T22:41:36.445-04:00I much prefer the idea of a single-page, single-si...I much prefer the idea of a single-page, single-sided "resource sheet." My only twist would be that students could type up the resource sheet, but any resource sheet (hey, you can photocopy a handwritten sheet) would have to be turned in on the last day of class. This would encourage studying and synthesis well in advance of the final.Maybellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01470091893270064951noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-20988007958319283732013-04-23T21:10:41.464-04:002013-04-23T21:10:41.464-04:00I had an open-book midterm, and during it I realiz...I had an open-book midterm, and during it I realized that the students were spending 90% of their time rifling through their lecture notes, trying to find the relevant material by hoping they spotted a keyword or phrase that maybe would jog their memory and give them a clue as to how to answer the questions, and so nearly all of them didn't have time to do all the questions, and they did Prof Poopieheadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00997969128824319914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-33978797832862177522013-04-23T21:04:00.698-04:002013-04-23T21:04:00.698-04:00LOLLOLCambridge0101https://www.blogger.com/profile/12153435765355501551noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-11409346447685997042013-04-23T21:02:45.974-04:002013-04-23T21:02:45.974-04:00Prof. Chiltepin, I agree with your goals but also ...Prof. Chiltepin, I agree with your goals but also with the other commenters that the time to change exam formats is not with the final exam.<br /><br />For the longer term, what would be the downside to getting a reputation as a softy if you would actually maintain high standards? (See Wylodmayer and Cambridge0101 above.)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02906546940408742913noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-56704160027702144962013-04-23T20:55:09.794-04:002013-04-23T20:55:09.794-04:00Brilliant!
All my statistics professors did it th...Brilliant!<br /><br />All my statistics professors did it that way. They'd specify the size of the sheet, and we could write down formulas, decision flow charts, whatever. We still had to know how to choose an appropriate test for the sample set and then apply the test and determine whether the results were significant. And yes, putting the sheet together was the best way to review (apart Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02906546940408742913noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-9117215144791386002013-04-23T20:22:29.962-04:002013-04-23T20:22:29.962-04:00At first, I set closed-book exams. Unfortunately,...At first, I set closed-book exams. Unfortunately, one of my senior colleagues thought that this made it "too hard" for the students. After that, I slowly made my exams open-book. It didn't take long before that wasn't good enough.<br /><br />Over the years, it seemed nothing I did helped.<br /><br />I eventually allowed them to bring in their notes.<br /><br />I sometimes Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-10769873495899930492013-04-23T20:00:08.130-04:002013-04-23T20:00:08.130-04:00Almost all of my exams are open "novel" ...Almost all of my exams are open "novel" because we're dealing with literature and students have the novels as a reference during exams. But it's not open notes or other theory books, so they have to know, for example, characteristics of archetypes and tropes and theories and theorists' names and ideas to then apply them. <br /><br />If the exam calls for analysis of the The Contemplative Cynichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02088570661592922436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-57170430069253965952013-04-23T19:16:36.538-04:002013-04-23T19:16:36.538-04:00In my department, "open book" is transla...In my department, "open book" is translated to "don't study" in student-speak. Why waste time preparing in advance when you have "all the answers" sitting in front of you.<br /><br />I have adopted (in appropriate courses) the concept of the single-page, single-sided hand-written resource sheet. No electronic versions of any kind are permitted. They can bring Cambridge0101https://www.blogger.com/profile/12153435765355501551noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-25972192311668337182013-04-23T18:24:33.846-04:002013-04-23T18:24:33.846-04:00Open-book exams wouldn't really work in my fie...Open-book exams wouldn't really work in my field, but I've done the thing with giving out essay questions before-hand... frequently, in fact. One of my favorite undergrad professors had the kids totally fooled with this one. His tests were all essay, but only about three questions long. Mind you, those three questions represented about six to nine pages of in-class writing... yet his Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-74121098002384156022013-04-23T17:40:39.424-04:002013-04-23T17:40:39.424-04:00Did I really apostrophe "lets" up there?...Did I really apostrophe "lets" up there? I'm so ashamed... Why didn't I use "allow's" ? Uh, I mean "permit's" Nevermind.Sawyer in Student Serviceshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16463333151790071057noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-64602574721916187712013-04-23T17:34:50.355-04:002013-04-23T17:34:50.355-04:00I do it all the time. It all depends on how you st...I do it all the time. It all depends on how you structure the exam, of course, but I find it allows me to ratchet up the difficulty of the questions without hearing a chorus of wailing flakes. They seem to think that open book, open note is a good tradeoff, so I can hammer them as hard as I like. One trick I learned from a long-ago mentor is to require them to cite page numbers in the reading as Angry Archiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07348431132289025339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-8311674743892238192013-04-23T17:30:28.428-04:002013-04-23T17:30:28.428-04:00It's not something you want to spring on them ...It's not something you want to spring on them for the Final, but I know of an instructor that let's students use the book for ten minutes and then has them put it away for the rest of the test.<br /><br />It requires them to be familiar with the text enough to find what they need, so some study is necessary. It takes a first-test run-through for them to realize it, though. That's Sawyer in Student Serviceshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16463333151790071057noreply@blogger.com