A second chance to learn
Last year when I taught software engineering in China, I often gave students weekly tests and “make-up” tests. I remembered some professors were very surprised about it. One professor asked me: “Why would you give students “make-up” tests when they did not do well on the first tests. If they do not know the answers, they failed”. I explained: “That is the traditional concept that has been used for thousands of years. The purpose is to eliminate students and to select only the few, the best to be officials to serve the Emperor. That is why traditional education systems have so many exams and so many obstacles for students. Today, the purpose of education is to encourage students to learn, to acquire skills not to eliminate or punish them.” This led to several discussions with the faculty. Few agreed with me but most disagreed as they believe that giving students a second chance in make-up tests would encourage laziness, irresponsible attitudes, and unfair to other students. Later a professor told me that it means more work for the faculty and no one want extra works. I told him that the concept of giving students a second chance is designed to encourage learning. It means that students who have not know the material well have another chance to learn them again. If learning is our ultimate education goal, then why oppose it?
This is how the make-up test works: During the weekly test, students must determine whether they really know the answer or not. If they do not know or not sure, they may mark the question with the sign “SC” (Second chance) then copy it on a piece of paper. After the test, they can take that paper home and look up the correct answers. The next day, they have to turn in their corrected answers to me so I can grade both their original tests and their make-up tests at the same time. If students missed the question on the first test but answered it correctly on the make-up test, then they received half of the grade. For example, if there are ten questions on the test, a student only have five correct answers will receive five points. However, if he has all five wrong answers corrected in the make-up test, then he will receive two and a half points. The final grade would be seven and a half points.
Many professors asked me: “Why bother to help them?” I explained that students learned more by having to look up answers themselves. That means they have to go back and learn the things that they do not know or missed in their own study. Most students told me that by having a second chance, they felt less stressful in the test, they were more comfortable as they learned from their mistakes. During the test, they had to think about each question seriously, determine the answer and decide whether or not they knew the answer or asked for second chance. In this case, they know exactly whether their way of study is effective or not so they can improve it. Of course, to be fair with other students, second chance students still suffer by only receive half of the point from not knowing the answer during the test. They have a short time (24 hours) to find out the correct answers that means they have to do extra study. Basically, learning is what I want from my students, NOT how many of them pass the test.
To eliminate the problem of lazy students to take advantage of the second chance. I also have another rule: Students can only have maximum three “second chances” per semester. That means 3 opportunities in 12 weekly tests. For many years, I rarely seen anyone violate this rule or took advantage of it. Often students tell me that they are motivated to learn, knowing that they do have a “safety net” in case something happen. I have seen many good students did not do well in a test because they were sick that day. Sometime they had personal problems or family conflict during test time so having a second chance would help them to catch up with the class.
Of course, I do not think having a make-up test is the best way to make students learn. I also do not believe in punishing someone for not do well on a test is a better way either. One thing I am sure is the way they learn will stay with them for the rest of their lives but the course materials are only good for few years as technology changes quickly.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
