Mix Up Your Questions

Is there enough variety in your quizzes? Do you alter the question types and topics? Do you mix in old and new material in each quiz? When a quiz just covers the one section or chapter at hand, it can foster the illusion that each such unit is self contained and has little to do with the rest of the class content. Interleaving different question types and topics is a practice that can help students see similarities and differences between ideas and make more connections across larger themes of the class. At first, students may find this more difficult and make more mistakes but research suggests over time it can result in better long term learning and transfer. If this is a new approach for you or your students, give them some practice with this approach before implementing it for a high stakes exam. You can do this in class by chunking a longer lecture into shorter sections and interleaving these knowledge checks between. Or allow multiple attempts on quizzes in D2L with a pool of questions of different types and from different topics of the class.

Fall Workshops from the CTE

"Saving Bucs" Introduction to Open and Affordable Course Materials Wednesday Oct. 6, 1:30-3:00PM Thursday Oct. 7, 10-11:30AM Learn about Open Educational Resources (OER) and Affordable course materials and see how you can integrate them into your courses. Also, learn about the Open/Affordable Awards and other institutional support.  Taxonomies of Learning Friday Nov. 19, 10-11:30AM As instructors we want to ensure that our students leave our classes having learned something. However, how well do we measure what was actually learned?  Specifications Grading Friday Oct. 1, 1:00-2:30PM Friday Oct. 29, 1:15-2:45PM Are you tired of trying to decide if a student's work should get an 90% or 94%? In this workshop, we'll explore how to implement a new kind of grading system, Specifications Grading, that keeps failure from being fatal and puts students more into the driver's seat...and with the added benefit that your grading decisions *might* become easier!  Please note, most workshops are now offered online via Zoom. Check the registration page for modality and location details.

May Your Teaching Be Most Excellent