this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2023
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Homework should be free points anyways. Most of the grade should be exams.
I have to disagree. If points are free, why even have the homework in the first place? To have students pay out the nose for some shitty online homework system? Grades should include homework and classwork constituting what is called Formative Assessment and exams forming what is called Summative or Cumulative Assessment. The idea being Formative Assessment giving you feedback as you are learning and Summative Assessment telling you if you have mastered the material at the end. This is the approach I employ with students earning on average 60 percent of the formative assessment points. Their work does not reflect mastery and the entire point of grading, whether it is used that way or not, is to indicate to students that there is room for improvement. After earning 60% of the points, students adjust so that by the time they get to exams, their work does reflect mastery. Any other way does not show the growth students are capable of. Now, I am not ignorant of the importance students place on grades and how much stress they put on themselves to get top marks (whether that stress is justified or not). So regardless of how I use grades internally in my courses to motivate growth, almost all of my students earn A's as their external grade. In the end, it's a win win system. Students maximally grow, and the risk/perception of failure is mitigated. You'll also notice I always use positive language. I.e. I do not take points off; students earn or I award points. Seems like a small thing, but framing something as a reward rather than a punishment makes a difference.
I don't fully agree with you assessment here.
Homework is assigned as an extension of the lesson, because teachers can't teach the entire lesson in an hour. If homework is graded, students will feel the need to cheat (or, "pay[ing] out the nose for some shitty online homework system", as you phrased it), because that's easier and less stressful than trying. However, if the student passed (for 100%) just for turning it in, the students who care will use that opportunity to learn the content, while the students who don't care, will use the opportunity to turn in some half-assed assignment. But, the thing is, those same students who cheat themselves will also fail the exams, because they didn't learn, while the students who tried on the extended lessons (homework assignments) will do much better on the exams, since they did learn. See, homework was never intended to be a graded thing, but teachers started grading it, due to their failure (in their eyes) to motivate the students to complete the assignment otherwise.
The reality, though, is that those students who want to do well, will do well, regardless of the grading system of the homework assignments. However, those same students will be under a lot less stress if they can use the homework assignments as learning aids, as opposed to the equivalent of graded take-home quizzes.
As a sidenote, it was funny to see you start your comment with "I have to disagree" and end it with "You’ll also notice I always use positive language", since they are contradictory statements haha
E: notice I refer to not receiving a "grade" and don't use the term "feedback". Feedback should always be given on these homework assignments, as they help facilitate learning.
I apologize for not being clear. I mean ositive reinforcement vs negative punishment. I.e. students earn points for good work rather than take away points for bad work. It makes a pretty big difference on a psychological level
Oh, yeah, no, I understood what you meant with the positive/negative statements. I just thought it was funny haha