A syllabus thing I went to during "break" said that it really helps students if they have a graphic representation of grade breakdowns on the syllabus (I did it in addition to the text breakdown).
It took me like two hours to get this to sort of work on my syllabus, including about ten minutes on the phone with the very nice tech person who helped me solve one of the problems. I should feel successful, like I've learned a vital new skill, right? (On paper, of course, it's all gray scale.)
I really hate wasting hours on something like this. Is it so helpful to students that it's worth wasting two hours on? I suppose that in the future it will take less time since now you know how to do it. But really -- what would help students most in their classes is if they did the reading, talked to the professor, worked on the assignments ahead of time, and were generally conscientious. No pie graph will save them.
ReplyDeleteCan you tell that this kind of thing makes me cranky? Sorry about bringing the angst. It's just that when administrators tell me to do these little pedagogical tricks, it makes me crazy.
Oh, I know! I know! Make a pie graph that represents how much of their grade is based on 1. doing the reading, 2. doing the assignments ahead of time, 3. talking to the professor, 4. being generally conscientious. That might help them more! :)
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