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Re: Student Evaluations



A couple years ago I read education books about grading and about
objectives. One goal that I took from that experience is that I should not
teach to the test, but I should test what I teach. In other words, the
objectives covered on a test should also be covered in the course through
lectures, activities, learning experiences, etc. However, I had hundreds
of learning objectives for my course. Only a small subset of these
objectives could possibly be covered on the exam. Students knew that they
were responsible for learning all of the objectives, but only a small
subset would be tested. They seemed to understand this well and never
complained.

Hope this helps.

AT

At 09:00 AM 1/14/2002 -0400, you wrote:
I received a copy of my student evaluations for the
introductory physics course I teach for prospective
elementary teachers, as an adjunct professor. The
biggest complaint I saw over and over was I taught
"things" that were not tested. Am I wrong in doing that?
Has higher education become "teach to the test" too or is
this because these students are going into education and
I am sure (at least in Ohio) that has become our
educational motto. I personally always appreciated
opportunities to increase my educational/intellectual
background - am I in the minority. Has education in
general just become about GPA's? Any comments.


Tim O'Donnell
Instructor of Physics and Chemistry
Celina High School
715 East Wayne Street
Celina, Ohio 45822
(419) 586-8300 Ext 1200 or 1201
odonnt@celina.k12.oh.us

"Chance only favors the prepared mind." - Louis Pasteur



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Dr. Aaron Titus
Department of Physics
316 Marteena Hall
North Carolina A&T State University
Greensboro, NC 27411

Email: titus@ncat.edu
Phone: (336) 334-7646
Fax: (336) 256-0815
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