46
votes
Accepted
How to deal with a "protest" assignment?
You need to slam him on the grade. That is what he earned. Don't be so easily manipulated by his comments on your teaching.
Also I would not have sent an email apology. Just offered to meet with ...
- 484
38
votes
Accepted
How to solve the problem of Wolfram Alpha?
First of all, I believe this question is quite similar to the question "How to give homework for integration technique?". I avoid the temptation of repeating my answer for that question. Instead, I ...
- 4,418
27
votes
How to solve the problem of Wolfram Alpha?
Imagine you had to look up every word you wanted to use, because you had a poor vocabulary. This would get old, very quickly.
The trouble is, many people don't have a genuine need to internalize ...
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21
votes
Accepted
Do you have an efficient way to view student responses to remote assignments allowing them to type math symbols and steps? (Middle + High school)
In a Google doc, one can "Insert/Equation" (marked by $\pi^2$). Then tiny pull-down menus appear in a top bar:
Using these menus, I just typed this nonsense:
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17
votes
Accepted
Midterm in Mathematics Courses
"Cheating Lessons" by James M. Lang argues (and has many references to back up) the claim that smaller, more frequent, lower stakes assessment both improves student learning outcomes and decreases the ...
- 24.3k
16
votes
Do you have an efficient way to view student responses to remote assignments allowing them to type math symbols and steps? (Middle + High school)
Consider to just review scanned or photographed handwritten homework. Yes, this is not as easy as looking at typed work, but consider: would you require typed work normally? So why now?
If your ...
- 235
13
votes
Accepted
Separating the roles of "teacher" and "assessor"
A question that occurs with a project like this (broader than one department, as you put it) would be: Who is qualified to make those assessments? Probably not any other department at a particular ...
- 24.3k
13
votes
How to deal with a "protest" assignment?
I am not a mathematics educator but I feel the need to chime in from the student side of this. I have taken numerous hard math classes during my BSc, and I have had my fair share of feeling hopeless, ...
- 231
13
votes
Accepted
Seeking Advice on Allowing Students to Skip a Quiz in Linear Algebra Course
I do recommend dropping a certain number of quizzes to handle cases like this.
You don't want a policy that makes more demands on your time and labor.
This is common enough to be familiar to students. ...
- 24.3k
12
votes
Teaching arithmetic operations ($+ - \times \div$) to a 3 year old
My immediate response is 'wait a few years'. I've spent a fair amount of time with 3 year olds, and most of them are busy learning how to be a person in their own right, how to have a conversation, ...
- 5,762
12
votes
How to solve the problem of Wolfram Alpha?
It doesn't exactly solve the problem, but one way to make positive use of Wolfram would be to use some Wolfram Demonstration Projects.
There are some that attempt to gamify calculus calculation ...
- 5,762
12
votes
The Undergraduate Responsibility Gradient
Here's another too-long comment posted as an answer:
We tell undergraduate students that they should study two to three
hours for every hour they spend in class. We know that many students
don'...
- 24.3k
12
votes
When is the best time to return a graded assessment?
Return at the beginning and go over it then. Any in class drill should wait for the finish of q and a on the papers.
Avoid parallel processing. You are leading a large group, not an individual. ...
10
votes
Accepted
Asking students to define "unique"
To avoid misinterpretations, I'd give it to them in a mathematical sentence and ask them to explain what they believe 'unique' means in this context.
For lack of knowing where you are in the course, ...
- 3,996
9
votes
How to design multiple choice questions
Personally in my own math courses, I have found that the gold-standard is to have an advance cycle of short-answer responses, document the most common student responses, and then turn those into the ...
- 24.3k
9
votes
Efficient methods to receive and grade online mathematics assessments?
If you have access to a device capable of touch input (like a tablet), then I would highly recommend using a stylus to annotate the pdf document. It should take almost the same time as if you were ...
- 191
8
votes
How do you incorporate the results from a final exam into evidence of learning in a valid and justifiable way (i.e. grade determination)?
I have always found this to be an extremely hard proposition in the US system of grading (hw + 2-3midterms + final=Grade).
All of the systems I've seen were imperfect, but some were better than ...
- 1,018
8
votes
How to solve the problem of Wolfram Alpha?
You can also use Wolfram Alpha to look up definitions of words. So by reductive reasoning, there is no need for infants to learn vocabulary because when they are old enough to use a smartphone, people ...
- 10.1k
8
votes
Accepted
What do you look for in a student presentation?
I have students present (in classes ranging from grades 7 to 12) and use the following rubric. It is not original, and googling various snippets suggests to me that it has been pieced together from ...
- 18.4k
8
votes
How to design multiple choice questions
Use them for what they're best at testing, like conceptual understanding questions.
One way to do this is by having students evaluate statements they would never be expected to come up with on their ...
- 1,941
8
votes
Teaching undergraduates who expect a high-school-like learning environment
I find class voting/clickers a good way to get students used to thinking about conceptual stuff. In fact, I often frame my lectures around three progressively more challenging conceptual questions. ...
- 2,986
8
votes
Should we assess ability to use specific problem solving methods, or general ability to solve problems?
As a fellow college algebra (et. al.) instructor, I think that knowing specific methods is a necessary thing to confirm. That's what I do on my tests. If you want and have time to add yet another ...
- 24.3k
7
votes
How to solve the problem of Wolfram Alpha?
Show your students some simple questions that Wolfram Alpha cannot answer.
Wolfram Alpha currently cannot satisfactorily answer some problems stated in words. For example, the query "find the ...
- 10.8k
7
votes
The Undergraduate Responsibility Gradient
I think that your point here is spot on: "Qualitatively, colleagues have noticed that when faculty over-organize student work, students continue to expect this and don't take on adequate ...
- 1,119
7
votes
Mathematics exam -- How to keep brain functioning through a four-hour exam?
Having one's mental abilities fall off after about 90 minutes is consistent with having eaten 20 - 30 grams of sugar before the exam started, but not having eaten any starch at that time.
Can you ...
- 3,148
7
votes
Mathematics exam -- How to keep brain functioning through a four-hour exam?
Take some periodic breaks. Yes, you can't finish it if you take breaks, but you can't finish it if you don't take breaks. Think of it as an optimization problem. Volume is rate times time. If your ...
- 188
7
votes
How to deal with a "protest" assignment?
Now the problem is, I announced that assignments are graded by completion.
I don't see a problem if you were clear about how the assignments will influence the final grade, perhaps something like "...
- 2,689
7
votes
How, now, shall we teach math online?
I taught all of my classes in an asynchronous (fully online) format this term.
Based on ideas posted here, I chose the following routine:
Content Delivery: I made videos with my phone and posted them ...
- 9,184
7
votes
Online Definition/Theorem Statement Quizzes
Here are some ideas:
As Brendan says above, you can give an example or non-example, and ask the student to explain why (using the definition) it is an example or non-example.
You can ask for examples ...
- 24.3k
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