Essays are no longer a good way of judging whether somebody has understood the material. We have to find other ways. - ThreadSky

seldo.com • 26 days ago

Essays are no longer a good way of judging whether somebody has understood the material. We have to find other ways.

This is bleak reading

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Are you sure at-home essays were ever good? IMO no exam is flawless. For example in-class essays and interviews select against people with anxiety or other handicaps. At-home select against people with noisy / uncomfortable homes or poor access to information, etc. pick your poison

hgstrp.com•26 days ago

I attended a somewhat marxist college and every exam was a written report followed by an oral examination. Takes more time of course, but I still feel that the best way to see if someone has understood the material is to have a conversation with them.

kye.boats•26 days ago

tbf, the base rate isn’t zero. I sat on a university student disciplinary panel for years, over a decade ago. The utter BS some people would come up with! Stupid students have said stupid things…forever. These are just some new (and albeit, potentially particularly dangerous) new clothes.

sdufresne.info•26 days ago

exam by subject-themed escape rooms

dan-punday.bsky.social•26 days ago

This is incredibly stupid. Maybe technology has made being able to assign essays impractical, but I have had incredibly meaningful interactions with students writing these essays. Fuck off to anyone who says that was a worthless experience.

seldo.com•26 days ago

No one is saying you can't assign students to write essays, just that they are no longer a practical means of assessment.

skimble.bsky.social•26 days ago

In my experience the primary purpose of academic essays isn't to judge whether someone has retained the material, it's part of training on how to research a topic and make a cogent argument. You don't have to retain knowledge long-term to write an essay.

lost-soul.bsky.social•25 days ago

Update to old game, AI said jump.

transitfossil.bsky.social•26 days ago

verbal presentations?

without notes?

make them like masters degree interrogations.

might improve speaking skills and talking off the top of your head.

kz1022.bsky.social•26 days ago

Oral exams and not written. Then you have to formulate your answers without any computers or use of documents. Bam.

seldo.com•26 days ago

Quite time-consuming.

kz1022.bsky.social•26 days ago

I guess there has to be a tradeoff of some kind if there's a desire to get students to stop using AI.

exadyto.bsky.social•26 days ago

In-class or in-lab writing. Multiple choice questions.

drien.com•26 days ago

I had one professor whose main assessments were in-class, handwritten, open-book essays... they were a little stressful at the time, but in hindsight I think they were extremely effective—they required you to deeply digest all of the material in advance in a way that even 50 page papers did not.

exadyto.bsky.social•26 days ago

The “problem” is that many students underestimate how much background work they need to put in in order to write these things. But 100% agree.

seldo.com•26 days ago

I hated hand written things because I never write things by hand, but in-class typing would be fine.

jake200.bsky.social•26 days ago

Uh, oral exams?

shifrafaye.bsky.social•26 days ago

What about in-class essay exams?

seldo.com•26 days ago

Many have suggested live exams as a solution.

seldo.com•26 days ago

But to be clear: I don't think that's "bleak". Things change sometimes.

michaelthiessen.bsky.social•26 days ago

This is "just" technology disrupting how we do things.

The solution isn't to ban the technology, it's to change how we do the things.

I'm sure math teachers had similar issues when calculators became widely available, then computers, etc.

patrocalypse.bsky.social•26 days ago

There are plenty of math classes that restrict the use of calculators

seldo.com•26 days ago

And is that a good idea?

patrocalypse.bsky.social•26 days ago

Yes I think it forces students to commit mathematical concepts to memory and helps them understand math at a more fundamental level. It also helps to highlight the students who have a natural aptitude for mathematics

michaelthiessen.bsky.social•25 days ago

At the foundational level, sure.

But if you're doing linear algebra whether or not you're using a calculator is no longer important.

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