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EDF 3604—Quizzes
On-line quizzes
For every required reading in this course, there will be two low-stakes, on-line quizzes (on the Blackboard page for the course), drawn from the same pool of questions for each reading. I expect that you will complete the first, 2-question quiz by Sunday, during the weekend it is assigned, as well as a one-paragraph, 3-point response to a prompt. This first, 2-question quiz will give me feedback on the class’s reading, so I can clarify common misunderstandings during the week. I expect that you will complete the second, 5-question quiz by the following Sunday, at the end of the weekend after it is assigned. (Extra question, for those of you looking at your courses from a teacher’s perspective: how am I balancing incentives with this structure?) Note: the Blackboard quizzes are open-book (by their nature). So keep your materials handy!
Yes, if you have more than one reading for the week, you will take more than one set of Blackboard quizzes for this course. Use the announcements on the course Blackboard page to prompt you to take the quizzes.The quizzes are untimed, and you will receive feedback on each answer as well as immediate scoring, but you can only take each quiz once (with a few exceptions). Occasionally, Blackboard will “lock up” a student’s quiz, and then I need to unlock it. If this happens, please e-mail me immediately so I have the chance to unlock it. (This is a very good reason to avoid taking the quizzes right before the deadline.)
In-class Exams
The exams will reach include 8 questions. I expect that one must write several sentences to earn complete credit on any question. The questions will require you to compare or contrast ideas or material that appear in two places and will usually require mastery of both the readings and the material presented and discussed in class. Example: “How does the existence of the Baby Boom undermine Gary Becker’s argument that a country's increasing wealth will lead to lower fertility?”
How I grade exam answers
Students earn full credit when I can readily discern that they have answered a question directly and with some course detail. I give partial credit for answers where I can discern some relevant answer to the question. Students would be wise to make as complete an answer as they can for each question.