I taught a course in testing for more than 30 years. The basic idea was to increase the value and accuracy of the tests and grades teachers give students.
Quite a few teachers are not happy with the duty of grading students. I can understand and sympathize. It does seem to be especially burdensome to ask the teacher to be sensitive to the student and his personality, his academic strengths and weaknesses, to be inspiring while at the same time to be judge and jury of his academic performance. Of course, in college, we are often dealing with very competent students. Despite that fact, some professors feel it is their duty to award a certain percentage of low grades and a limited percentage of high grades.
The book that I wrote and used in my tests and "measurements" class is online here"
The actual URl (uniform resource locator a.k.a. 'web address') is much longerr and more complicated but I put it in the Google url shortener and got the result above.
I like to compare classroom teaching to dentistry. When I go to the dentist or the doctor or the car mechanic, I come with a problem and I want to leave without it. I want my problem solved. I don't want to hear that there have already been so many successful treatments that my problem has to be only partially solved. I like to feel it if a student takes my course, it is my job and his/hers to learn all the required parts of the course. The student and I have a mutual responsibility to have that student earn the highest possible grade, "A" at my university. The student may choose to not study, to babysit the kids, to work extra hours at his/her job. I will gladly give a failing grade or a lower grade if that is what was earned. But I would rather find a way for the student to show me A level work if possible.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
