assessment
Grading is a compression algorithm
Posted by David Wees on Oct 27, 2011
The objective of traditional grading is to compress information teachers have gathered about a student down into a single score to make understanding the information easier. One of the original reasons for this compression was the limitation on how much information could be shared on a single piece of paper.
It's time to redesign the report card
Posted by David Wees on Oct 24, 2011
The typical report card looks like this (click to embiggen):
A problem with averages
Posted by David Wees on Aug 11, 2011
This xkcd comic demonstrates a big problem with averages.
By the way, this same problem occurs when you average grades as well.
Separate process of work from the product of work
Posted by David Wees on Jun 24, 2011
When I started working at my current school, I realized that they do something in assessment which is very rare.
Arbitrary Deadlines
Posted by David Wees on Jan 16, 2011
I read this article by Alan Stange on assigning penalties to students who hand in work late. He makes the point at the end of his blog post, "There is in fact relatively little significance to learning to complete on time." I agree with this statement and I'm going to expand upon it.
Problem based learning in math
Posted by David Wees on Jan 26, 2010
How does problem based learning work anyway? According to Wikipedia, "Problem-based learning (PBL) is a student-centered instructional strategy in which students collaboratively solve problems and reflect on their experiences." To me this means, choose problems which will reflect your curriculum and which students want to solve.
Disclaimer: The ideas discussed on this blog are my own, and in no way represent those of my employer.
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