Should I Ask My Professor To Allow Me To Makeup For Misse Assignments

Guest Weblog Post past William S. Altman, Ph.D.

One difficult decision we face up as instructors is what to practise when students miss a test. At one extreme are instructors who simply reject to give any make-up tests, relying on various work-arounds to deal with the missing grade. Some drop the lowest of several test grades, which means that a missed test will be the ane dropped. Others double-count another test or a portion of the final.

At the other extreme are instructors who will give any test at whatsoever time. Some instructors also require students to provide documentation, such as doctors' notes, hospital admission slips, or obituaries, to evidence the absence was for a legitimate reason. To discourage students from using make-up tests to gain extra study time, many instructors create make-up tests that are more difficult, longer, or in a less pop format than the in-class exam (east.g., an essay test for the brand-up, when the in-course examination was multiple choice).

Each of these approaches has its advantages and disadvantages, affecting students' learning, grades, motivation, and grade satisfaction, as well as grade direction strategies (specially for large classes). Some choices may raise upstanding concerns such every bit justice (eastward.thou., non-equivalent testing methods, or actress time for pupil preparation).

Dr. William S. Altman

Source: William Altman

My ain thinking on brand-upwards exams has evolved a lot over almost 4 decades of teaching in both large and modest classes at large universities, small liberal arts colleges, and community colleges. I believe we should consider why nosotros requite tests at all before nosotros make any judgments or policies well-nigh make-upwards tests—and about all of the variables that might contribute to a student'southward need to take a make-up.

For me, testing has two purposes. First, nosotros use tests to appraise students' knowledge and thinking skills. Second, an equally important purpose of testing is to reinforce the information and thinking skills that we've taught (or hope we've taught). To this end, all tests—including concluding exams—are pedagogy tools. This aspect of testing as an active learning practise is oft neglected.

To ensure that we maximize the assessment and teaching value of our tests (the principle of beneficence), we must provide well-designed tests for all of our students and give them the opportunities to take those tests, regardless of any circumstances that might interfere. To preserve justice, make-up tests must exist equivalent in length, difficulty, and format to the tests we administer in class.

Because tests are a necessary part of the learning and assessment I do, I demand all of my students to take all of the tests. Therefore, my testing policy is dissimilar from those of many of my colleagues. For example, in my full general psychology classes, I requite four exams and count only the best iii. If a student misses an exam, they have one week to adjust a make-up test. I don't need to know why a student missed the examination, and I don't demand to judge skilful from bad excuses. My make-upwards tests apply different items from those on my in-grade tests, but they are equivalent in the material covered, their length, and their difficulty. I'k not interested in punishment, and have no problem with grading a few belatedly entries.

But wait, there's more! I give my students the opportunity to correct their errors on the kickoff three tests (there's no time at the end of the semester to do this for the final). They have until the next class to turn in their corrections. In add-on to the correct answers, they need to provide references for their answers from the textbook or class notes, and the reasons why they made each error for every detail they correct. Items on these exams are worth 2 points each. Correctly corrected items earn back one of the lost points. Items that they didn't correct or changed to new wrong responses lose one more point, because I advantage everything appropriately—including errors.

In general, my students really appreciate this approach. Even the ones who lose points support it considering information technology'southward off-white, because they've been given the adventure to earn a better grade, and because I've explained the goal—to give them a chance to relearn material they'll need in subsequent lessons. It's non but empty memorization. Although this correction opportunity is optional, almost all of my students generally take advantage of it.

My make-upward exam philosophy is related to the daily ungraded quizzes I give, which are designed to help my students discover what they understand or what they need to restudy at domicile (and to motion beyond empty reading). I don't form these quizzes, although I do collect them at the terminate of class. I give the quizzes at the beginning of class, and provide the correct answers at the end. This way the quizzes serve 3 purposes. They are advance organizers for the lecture, they're guides to the topics we cover during the twenty-four hours'south discussion, and they help students consolidate their memories virtually the day's topics at the stop of the session. An interesting thing happens one time my students sympathise that these quizzes are given for their benefit. They begin competing to see who volition get the all-time scores when I denote the correct responses. In fact, my students have consistently listed the quizzes and exam policy as highlights of the course, because these techniques assist them larn and bear witness that I'thou taking their learning seriously.

Incidentally, all of this has had a nice (and sometimes enthusiastic) impact on my student evaluations. So, my students acquire and remember more, I become slightly more accurate data most their learning, and they like it. What's not to love? Of course, your mileage and philosophies may vary.

Be well,
Pecker Altman

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William South. Altman, Ph.D., is a professor in the Psychology and Human Services Section at Broome Community Higher in Binghamton, New York. His background is in Educational Psychology and Measurement, and his current research interests are effective educational activity and learning, creativity, and intelligence. He has written for both scholarly and non-scholarly publications, has spent over a decade sharing information about educational activity, technology, and psychological science on local radio, has been a professional photographer, and has performed in theaters and as a standup comic—ostensibly to work on classroom presentation skills, but mostly because it's fun.

Mitch Handelsman is a professor of psychology at the University of Colorado Denver. With Samuel Knapp and Michael Gottlieb, he is the co-writer of Ethical Dilemmas in Psychotherapy: Positive Approaches to Decision Making (American Psychological Association, 2015). Mitch is also the co-writer (with Sharon Anderson) of Ethics for Psychotherapists and Counselors: A Proactive Approach (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), and an associate editor of the two-volume APA Handbook of Ideals in Psychology (American Psychological Association, 2012). But hither's what he's most proud of: He collaborated with pioneering musician Charlie Burrell on Burrell's autobiography.

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© 2016 past Mitchell M. Handelsman. All Rights Reserved

Should I Ask My Professor To Allow Me To Makeup For Misse Assignments,

Source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-ethical-professor/201601/hey-prof-can-i-make-the-exam

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