by Lara Hulcher, NCSU Technician
The somewhat-traditional teaching method of determining students’ grades based solely on a midterm and final exam was recently called into question by a psychology study. However, it’s unclear whether this new method will take wide effect at N.C. State. Psychologists at the University of Texas at Austin released findings from an experiment this month in which 901 students in a popular introduction-to-psychology course took their laptops to class and were quizzed online. The researchers found that frequent quizzing, as opposed to a few large tests and projects, increased both class attendance and overall performance. Scott Despain, an associate professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, teaches Spanish I and gives several small quizzes throughout the semester. Usually, his quizzes only take 30 seconds to a couple of minutes to complete and come directly from the homework, Despain said. “It facilitates students’ success,” Despain said. “I come from a background of learning by doing.”
http://www.technicianonline.com/news/article_50a41600-5b0f-11e3-9833-001a4bcf6878.html
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