I'm back in Niskayuna, dealing with mountains of end-of-term paperwork. Which means you get a poll to pass the time:
This poll is brought to you by the number π, the letter q, and the two take-home exams I'm waiting for before I can finish my grading.
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Of course, I didn't think of the perfect joke item until too late: "Is this poll going to affect my final grade?"
As a current student, I enjoy the opportunity to present my process for utilizing concepts learned over the semester to my peers and professor. This oral "recap" allows for peer discussion and the sharing of different view points. Learning from my professor is always important but learning from my peers is pretty good also.
Just my $.02
Check boxes, dude. One size does not fit all cases.
Also, it needs a dog option.
Scary, but for a brief time our school had a provost who believed in something similar to your final choice for all students at the senior level. Here was his statement (he didn't pose it as an argument but a given, not open for discussion)
Any student who makes it to the senior year has proven himself or herself to be a success. I will view the assignment of a failing grade to any senior a sign of failure on the part of the faculty rather than the student, and the faculty member who gives that grade will go through a rigorous discussion with me. It won't be pretty.
He implement this type of policy, with the blessing of his buddy, the new president, in his first year as provost. He was gone by his third year (something about misuse of funds), and "his" freshman never got the free-ride senior year he had (essentially) promised them.
The 72 hour final after the second semester of Jackson is definitely a way to determine if students have learned if grad school is 'right' for them. I don't know that it allowed anyone to prove what we learned about the material, but I never thought that was what Jackson was about anyway.
It's been quite some time, but I still have scars from that battle...
x) none of the above.
Best is a combination of a written test, oral test, assignment, and graded lab work.
I also think a combo is best. My neuropharmacology course required that we each do a research paper (on one of a pre-defined set of topics), teach a half-class about our topic, and then our final exam was based on those classes, including our own.
I've always been crap at tests, and got a low B on that one, but the As on the paper and teaching portions more than made up for it, and, more importantly, the multi modes addressed various people's learning styles.