Quotidian Quizzes—Introduction (c)

One year ago on Round and Square (5 December 2011)—Kanji Mastery: Radical 128, Ear (耳)

[a] Abstract RF

This is one part of a multi-post introduction. Click below for the other posts:

Quizzes 1          Quizzes 2          Quizzes 3          Quizzes 4
Quizzes 5          Quizzes 6          Quizzes 7          Quizzes 8

So what are the benefits of quizzes for students...and for the instructor? We've touched upon a few of both already, but let's take a closer look at the costs and benefits of spending the first fifteen minutes of every single class session with several 8.5 x 11" pages of questions, maps, and chronologies.

Let's start with the challenges. It is not as though quizzes are without them, and they range from the trivial to the somewhat-serious. To begin, as I mentioned yesterday, quizzes require preparation. Every class means a quiz every day it meets. For a Tuesday-Thursday class, that adds up to about twenty-five quizzes over the course of the term (with "off-days" for the first meeting, "midterm week," and the final meeting, when there is a test). 

[b] Goal RF

Twenty five is a lot.  

That means that the instructor must make twenty five sets of questions. These range from language matters at various levels (my students are always asked to learn something of the language of the area we are studying) to chronology and geography. This covers just the basics, just the material that everyone needs to know perfectly. In the context of Japanese History and Culture, that means knowing where to spot the major islands of Japan, waterways, significant cities, and so forth, as well as the dates of pivotal periods in the Japanese past. And this is just the "easy" stuff. There are also short-answer questions about the text under consideration and one mini-essay (what I call l'essai en petit). In other words, there is a lot of stuff for the professor to do before students can sit down to fill out each day's quiz. 

This stuff takes time.

Anyone who has ever taught a class about anything knows that time is precious. There is, in short, a sizable up-front cost to giving quizzes. They don't write themselves after all. They mean that the instructor needs to know the material well enough to craft a quiz. While that may seem obvious, it is a little bit harder than one might think, especially if there is a new book or two on the syllabus, or a set of points to be made that have not previously been part of the course. And, as is the case with many of my own courses, if the offering is new, everything needs to be done from scratch. While the process gets more efficient with time (trust me), it does not happen in an instant.

This stuff takes time.

[c] Carry on RF

I'll leave off the additional expenses of printing and copying. I am lucky enough to have teaching assistants (they work differently in liberal arts colleges than in universities, but they are wonderful opportunities for both instructor and students if organized well). I do the printing, but they copy and distribute them. This helps, and if that were the end of it, it might well seem that the costs are not all that steep. Carry on, you might say. Quizzes get through the time-commitment portal.

But, alas, there is more. 

You see, these things need to be evaluated. Imagine (this is just one class) twenty-five students taking two quizzes a week. That's fifty...week after week. You've already written the damned things; now you have to read them, too? Yup, that's a big issue, and it takes even more time. Still, even if all of those downsides were to face you, you might well say that the process is worth it. 

Heck, just having students read a little more carefully might be worth the time. I used to have a colleague, way back at the beginning of my teaching career, who always taught in a room across from my office. At least a dozen times every semester, I would hear him screaming at his students. I peeked out my door, only to see Professor R--s---w--- shaking his arms, just as his carotid artery looked like an invasive species in an X-Files episode. At least half of the time—five, six, or seven times during the term—he would kick them out, send them home, and tell them not to come back until they had done the reading. He confided to me once that his doctor had raised his blood pressure medication dosage.

I would have recommended quizzes. They cost less, and give better results.

We will deal with the positives tomorrow, though. For now, there is even more to cover on the bleak side of quizzes when it comes to an instructor's time. You see, almost every professor has more than one class. Many have two more. That means at least fifty more quizzes a week. It could be a little higher or a little lower, but let's just say that a commitment to quotidian quizzes means working through one-hundred sheets of paper every single week.

This stuff piles up.

[d] School RF

Is it worth it? Is there a way to make a case that the teaching and learning benefits really justify at least a few hours of a professor's time? And even before we consider that, is there a way to speed up the process so it might take only an hour or so every single week? Yes, if you have really experienced TAs, they can go through the quizzes and give a reflective run-through that is very useful when I go through them later. They can check the geography and chronology, and give a nice read of the short-answers. This creates efficiency, and then I can give my attention to key areas and give the "official" score. Good stuff.

Still, it takes time. About ninety minutes of it...every single week.

Those are the major costs. It used to take almost three hours every single week, and I just about dropped them during each of the first three terms before finding what is now about the most efficient process that I can have. It is still a major outlay of time, and I would not stay with it if the benefits did not outweigh the costs. I have a great deal to do, including reading carefully and being ready for spirited class sessions. Writing and grading quizzes better be worth it if it is to take time away from rereading the course texts in anticipation of classroom discussion. 

And they are.  

We will consider just why this is so—at least in my life—tomorrow.

This is one part of a multi-post introduction. Click below for the other posts:

Quizzes 1          Quizzes 2          Quizzes 3          Quizzes 4
Quizzes 5          Quizzes 6          Quizzes 7          Quizzes 8

[e] School RF