Oh and one more, my all-time favorite which has really helped in the
advanced majors courses:
Problem: Students give up on hard problems so instructors are tempted
to only assign the easier problems.
Solution: Homework is pass/fail and students only pass if every
problem (remember that there's only a few on each set) is done
essentially entirely correctly. No part credit. There is still a
grade but it's determined entirely according to how long it takes a
student to get the assignment done correctly. There are a sequence of
dates listed on each assignment. They can turn an assignment in as
many times as they like until they pass. If they pass by the first
date, they get an A; second date a B; etc. Any help they can get from
me, classmates, the internet, etc is permissible as long as they
eventually demonstrate they've figured it out. After each submission
I mark on their papers things they need to address, thereby
guaranteeing they read my comments (another common instructor
complaint!).
One extra wrinkle: I can and do make small modifications to problems
(all posted on a web page) as submissions come in and the bar for
passing goes up slightly (eg. I decide that some intermediate result
really ought to be plotted, or that some formula needs to be checked
in Mathematica, or that some interesting special case should be
examined). This is to reward those who submit early and prevent late
submitters from just cribbing off the comments I write on the papers
of early submitters.
This method probably should not be attempted in a large class, needless to say!
--
Carl E Mungan, Assoc Prof of Physics 410-293-6680 (O) -3729 (F)
Naval Academy Stop 9c, 572C Holloway Rd, Annapolis MD 21402-5002 mailto:mungan@usna.eduhttp://usna.edu/Users/physics/mungan/