Evaluation

1
Evaluation Assessment

• 10/31/06

2
Typical Point Breakdown

• COURSE GRADES Grades will be assigned on the
  basis of 450 points, distributed as follows
• Midterm Examination I 100
  points
• Midterm Examination II 100
  points
• Graded Homework and/or Quizzes 100 points
• Final Examination
  150 points

3
Midterm Exams

• Mid-semester exams 75 min
• Regular exam (630-745pm)
• Conflict exam (505-620pm)
• Make up exam takes place one day after the
  regular (630-745pm)

4
Midterm Exams (Conflicts Make-ups)

• Students must sign up in 104 McAllister for any
  exam other than the regular
• Student should have a valid excuse to take the
  make-up otherwise 20 will be taken off the exam
  score
• University-approved activities field trips,
  debate trips, choir trips, athletic events,
  religious holidays
• Conflict exam is at instructors discretion

5
Final Exam

• December 18 - 21, 2006 110 min
• Schedule announced midway through semester
• Two conflicts
• direct (two final exams scheduled at the same
  time)
• overload (three or more final exams scheduled in
  a 15-hour block of time from the beginning of the
  first exam to the beginning of the third exam)
• Students with conflicts are required to file for
  a conflict exam with the Office of the Registrar
  by the deadline
• No make up. Only emergency cases (verified deaths
  in the family, or medical verification, etc.) are
  acceptable excuses. A deferred grade should be
  submitted

6
Exams Checklist (Start of Semester)

• UG Office will provide each instructor with a
  listing of the evening examination dates on the
  first day of classes
• Locations announced at a later date
• http//www.math.psu.edu/UG/Fall2006/rptEveningExam
  s.pdf
• The students must be notified of the evening exam
  schedule during the first week of the semester
• This information typically goes on your syllabus

7
Exams Checklist (Writing Exams)

• The following exams are written by the department
  (with the exception of the Summer term)
• 017, 021, 022, 026, 041, 140, 140A, 141
• All other exams are written by the instructors of
  that course under the supervision of the course
  coordinator
• You may be asked to
• Write exam questions
• Type the exam
• Proofread the exam

8
Writing Exams

• Begin writing any exam EARLY
• It can take up to 4 weeks to choose questions,
  type, proofread, revise, and print the exam

9
Writing Exams (Choosing questions)

• Talk to the course coordinator about the format
  of the exam
• Look at old exams for ideas on question length,
  wording, difficulty, etc
• www.math.psu.edu/UG/InformationAboutMathCourses.ht
  m
• Use familiar questions
• Sample exams
• In-Class questions
• Textbook
• Dont write questions which can be understood
  write questions which cannot be misunderstood!

10
Writing Exams (Revising)

• Revising
• Work through all questions checking for accuracy
  and appropriateness of questions
• Respect your colleagues' work when revising
• TIME, TIME, TIME

11
Exams Checklist (Week of the Exam)

• Practice exams (either prepared by the instructor
  or exams from previous semesters)
• Distribute copies of the practice exams at least
  one week prior the exam date and discuss it in
  class
• Extra Office Hours
• Night Review
• http//www.math.psu.edu/UG/reservations.htm

12
Exams Checklist (Day of the Exam)

• Pick up the exam in 104 McAllister from Julie
• Office closes at 5pm
• Proctoring
• Show up 15 to 20 minutes early to your exam room
• Grading
• The multiple choice portions are graded by
  scantron
• Partial credit problems are graded by the
  instructors often immediately following the exams

13
Homework

• Assigning and collecting
• You can assign a standard homework from the
  textbook or employ your own problems
• Most commonly homework is collected around a week
  after it was assigned
• Grading
• You will most likely be assigned a grader
• You are welcome to grade your homework yourself
  if you prefer
• You can have all problems checked or some
  specific problems, sometimes undisclosed in
  advance

14
Quizzes

• Usually instructors give a quiz during the last
• 15 minutes of class
• They are most often short answer questions
  although multiple choice is also used
• Problem types are typically homework problems,
  with occasionally definition and/or concept
  questions
• Most instructors tend to grade their own quizzes
• Announced vs. pop-quizzes

15
Other assessments

• Monitoring class attendance
• In-class problems
• Projects
• Reading assignments

16
Homework vs. Quizzes

• Main points to consider
• Benefits to the students
• Time

17
Grading

• Try to maintain uniform criteria for your grading
  policies
• Students should know how many points each
  assignment is worth before they turn it in
• You may want to drop a few weakest quizzes/
  homeworks or allow students to make some fixed
  number of assignments up or give an extra credit
  assignment
• Advise your students that no separate curve for
  each individual assessment will be implemented
  there might be a global curve at the end of the
  semester though

18
Extra-credit Late work

• Extra-credit
• Extra credit, bonus points or optional problems
  are all good motivations for students to do extra
  work
• The number of extra credit points should not
  exceed 5 of the total number of points in the
  syllabus
• You may want to use it do determine the student's
  grade if it falls on the borderline
• Late work
• Your late work policy should be on your syllabus
• Remember to maintain a uniform late policy!

19
Grading (Revisited)

• Uniform grading policy
• Homework, quiz averages
• Group grading
• Final grade cut-offs

20
Student Evaluations

• GTAs who teach a class are required to obtain
  two student evaluations during each semester
• Mid-semester student evaluations
  (computer-scored)
• Each GTA receives the results of this evaluation
  via email shortly after the evaluations are given
  
• End-of-semester evaluations (2 open-ended
  questions)
• GTAs may not see these evaluations until after
  grades have been assigned for the course
• Each GTA should ask Becky for a copy of the
  written evaluations
• These copies are normally distributed at the
  beginning of the next semester