University final exam, how to test the learning effect

The end of the semester is the busiest time of the university semester.

The students were in a hurry on the road, and the classrooms and the library were full of students who bowed their heads to review.

Although the end of the semester is only one stop in the university journey, this stop is always full of gunpowder smoke.

In the smoke of gunpowder, there are still many bright colors, which have become unforgettable memories of teachers and students.

What are the assessment methods at the end of the university?

Make students overwhelmed or happy?

How can teachers and students interact through final assignments?

The reporter walked into the university campus and felt the busy end of the term.

1. The final assessment is mainly based on papers and exams, and group work is easy to "free ride"

　　According to Yu Mingye, a freshman engineering student at Harbin Institute of Technology, the courses in the university can be roughly divided into examination courses and examination courses.

"Examination classes are awarded points based on test scores, while exam classes are generally introductory courses, and the course content is more inclined to popular science knowledge, and is generally assessed in the form of papers." Yu Mingye also mentioned that whether it is an examination class or an exam Classes are based on the weighted calculation of the usual grades and final grades to prevent students from wanting to rely on the final surprise to obtain grades.

　　For Yu Mingye, who just graduated from high school, exams are not a problem.

"For example, in the course of 'linear algebra', through the repeated and repeated method of the test, the knowledge points are memorized and finally transformed into their own mathematical foundation. I think this is especially important in the freshman stage. Only then can you study more deeply." Yu Mingye paid more attention to applying the knowledge of the exam in practice, "A knowledge point reflected in the paper is a calculation, and it is also a calculation when it is actually taken into the project. The key is to combine the two get in touch."

　　"College is about training a person's ability to solve problems. Because in the next few decades, I may have to spend it in this state - facing a problem that no one has experienced, or facing a problem that has no answer. ——How I do it and how I do it with the team is very important. It is a must to exercise the ability to think independently and solve problems. Although it is difficult, it will be beautiful.” Yu Ming Ye believes that what is more important is to review the knowledge learned after the semester, whether it is thesis, examination or other assessment methods, "I believe that very few people will re-read the knowledge they have learned. The end of the semester is not the end, It’s just a sign of mastering knowledge in stages, I pay more attention to reviewing knowledge and testing which knowledge is really mastered, so as to give feedback on my growth.”

　　Also, a common assignment in college is group work.

The reporter found that many students were quite critical of group work.

Some students told reporters that most of the time it was a group assignment, but one person was singled out, and the others were named.

　　From the student's point of view, group work is often prone to "free-rider" phenomenon, and there is always a situation of "paddling" (not working).

Ge Hanrui, a graduate student at Renmin University of China's School of Letters, also suggested that the problem of participation in group presentations also involves other audience members in the classroom, "When presenting on the podium, some of the students at the bottom didn't listen, so the meaning of the presentation would be lost. Take a big discount. If you write your paper carefully, you can guarantee that what you do is genuine.”

　　Cai Danjun, an associate professor at the School of Literature at Renmin University of China, is not very advocating for students to only do group presentations. In her opinion, students' slides are exquisite and beautiful, but they cannot replace writing. "After a paper is written, students' questions Innovation ability, logical argumentation ability, discussion summary ability, etc. are clear at a glance, but most of the time, group presentations are not reflected.”

2. Compared with textbook knowledge tests, students prefer engaging homework

　　As far as examinations are concerned, science and engineering examines the basics of mathematics, while liberal arts and social sciences have different characteristics.

The final exam questions of "Criminal Law" taught by Che Hao, a professor at Peking University Law School, are often called "more exciting than novels" by students -- "I don't know where I am in a dream: the most transcendental" Dali Siqing enters the new era era'".

These kinds of test questions often become "allusions" that students talk about with relish, and the novel and flexible test questions also impress the students deeply.

　　Dong Yixuan, an undergraduate student majoring in psychology at Beijing Forestry University, had a very unforgettable exam in the "Psychoanalysis" class. The last major question was "Interpretation of Dreams".

Before the test, the teacher asked each student to bring a textual description of one of their dreams to the test room on the day of the test. The teacher collected them uniformly, scrambled them, and then randomly assigned them. The content of the last big question in the test is to apply the knowledge learned in this course. Analyze the dream that each person is assigned.

　　"In general, everyone has a curiosity about dreams about mysterious things. It is very novel and interesting to do this kind of analysis. The way of questioning is also quite special. The students exchange dreams anonymously with each other. A sense of participation. And the questions themselves don’t have such fixed answers, so they can apply knowledge more flexibly.” Dong Yixuan said that homework that combines whimsical ideas with daily life is better than exams that are scripted and limited to classroom content.

　　The reporter found that in addition to exams and papers, the final assessment of practice is also an important way.

For example, design majors require art design works, film and television editing majors require video shooting works, and computer majors require web design and program development.

It is worth noting that the special assignments produced by the combination of ideological and political courses and professional courses bring students a peculiar experience.

　　The homework of the "Frontiers of Digital Media" class at the School of Communication and Design, Sun Yat-sen University is how to tell the story of the party's history well and how to spread the spirit of the story. The theme should make a difference.” Wu Huiyue, the teacher who presided over the course and a professor at the School of Communication and Design of Sun Yat-Sen University, introduced: “How to combine party history learning and education activities with digital media, I set up questions for the students For the professional course assignment of 'Smart Media and the Centennial of the Founding of the Communist Party'."

　　The students came up with many golden ideas, in various forms such as posters, postcards, H5, bookmarks, etc. "3 months ago, we received this special course assignment, and it immediately aroused interest. Poster news is very suitable for the current fast communication. , Quick reading format. So we want to find out the special figures in the 100-year history of the founding of the Communist Party of China and the vivid stories behind the figures. Use concise, eye-catching, direct information and feelings to quickly capture readers' awareness and emotions. "Communication of Sun Yat-Sen University Shared with Zhu Wenyan, a 2020 student of the School of Design.

3. Homework should become the carrier of teacher-student communication, making teaching and learning more warm

　　Completing final assignments is a must for every student in college. However, many students are full of worries when submitting assignments, fearing that their assignments are not good enough, and are afraid to communicate with teachers.

But Cai Danjun bluntly said that teachers have a great tolerance and never dislike students' homework that is not good enough. Students should communicate with teachers candidly.

Teachers are more concerned about the attitude of students, and their abilities can be improved, but their attitude must be correct.

In Cai Danjun's view, in school, there are actually very few opportunities for students to really communicate with teachers, and homework is a communication carrier.

"Teachers should clearly point out the areas where students need to improve, give them specific practices, and often encourage them. The academic path must be to walk the path that has been traveled by predecessors first, and then take a small step forward. , that is the student’s own contribution.”

　　The final papers of more than 20 students in the class were marked and corrected day and night, and they wrote down their comments carefully. It took Cai Danjun seven full days.

"When I found out that the homework that the students handed in the second time was much better than the first time, I was in a very good mood."

　　Cai Danjun showed reporters that when she was a graduate student, the revised drafts of the thesis that were fed back to her by different teachers were all meticulous and appropriate, and the comments were full of questions and encouragement.

"That's how I grew up back then. My teacher taught me to write papers and do academics hand-in-hand, so now I also want to pass on this method. The inheritance is implemented in daily life, which is to teach students to do their homework well. My value lies in shortening the detours they take, and telling them that the walls I have touched before don't need to be touched again, so as to make teaching and learning more warm."

　　Cai Danjun has organized two forums of "Friendship Lectures". Based on her lectures on "The History of Literature" or "Special Topics in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties", graduate students who choose courses, invite off-campus tutors to encourage students to submit their final course papers. Take it for comment.

"Course papers can take some of the pressure off students to a certain extent. At the doctoral level, you can get your papers from the formed course papers. The time spent on course papers will never be wasted. Course papers are dissertations. Basically, the course paper can be a rigorous academic training for students. Writing a paper requires practice, and if there are strict goals and requirements, students will pay more attention to it, and will not be perfunctory.”

　　Xing Lemeng, a graduate student at Renmin University of China, spent a year getting a complete academic training from the course paper: "In the past, my paper was just sorting out other people's papers, and I got a little idea from it, without any structure. Follow the teacher to revise over and over again, ask questions, cite, discuss, summarize, and the logic is very clear. While writing the thesis, I look for materials, and each draft can discover new books, fill in new materials and viewpoints, and form a snowball. A complete dissertation."

　　It took Xing Lemeng a lot of time to revise over and over again, which also allowed her to learn to balance the energy of daily study and thesis revision.

The current students choose a lot of courses. At the end of the term, there is a lot of homework pressure. Cai Danjun, the head teacher, understands this situation very well. Her approach is to lead the students to do a good job in time management and design the thesis topic from the beginning of the semester.

Cai Danjun hopes that his students can coordinate their research direction with the courses they have chosen. For example, students who study Northern Dynasties stone carvings can choose to write book reviews related to Northern Dynasties stone carvings if they have a course that requires them to write book reviews.

"This can not only avoid the situation where students start thinking about papers at the end of the term and is in a hurry, but also can work hard within a relatively focused range to reduce useless effort, and at the same time, through the homework of a course, link and cooperate with each other, and build up the entire research little by little. The knowledge structure in the direction." Cai Danjun said, "The study of liberal arts can only be done through accumulation over time, rather than by randomly looking for materials at the end of the term to piece together a dissertation."

(Our reporter Yang Sa)