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Like a lot of my colleagues, I threw out deadlines as best I could (and still survive the grading) this semester. I was lenient in every way, and I made exams open book/open note. The result? Better, more-reasoned work and knowledge they might ACTUALLY retain!
My grades are higher than average. Because the work is better than average, WAY better. And they did more of it-I made all exams essay/short answer so I could give partial credit. The trade-off was more writing/in-depth answers instead of multiple choice (this is my intro class)
Although I inadvertently created a situation where I had to grade 15,000 essay questions just for finals. ONCE AGAIN, screwed by math.
I was laid everything on the table for my upper-level elective (my special topics popular music in the 20th century class). I was like “I get it, this is an elective. I understand you have your senior seminar classes, etc.” and honestly wasn’t expecting much. BUT.
Their essay exams/final projects? Blew. My. MIND. The depth of analysis and the thought shocked the hell out of me, seriously. I teared up while grading yesterday-I think it’s because we get the message that students don’t care about learning, I was shocked that they clearly did?
ONE MORE THING that literally no one asked for: while this semester was a struggle for the majority of my students, some of them absolutely THRIVED in an online class environment in ways they might not have were the class in person.
