ASSESSMENTS

REFLECTIONS:

What happened:

• Most students came prepared.

• All groups finished their group problem correctly.

• Terminology questions: most students showed that they had prepared and answered their questions well.

  • A couple of students used the determinant when it hadn't covered yet in class, and admitted that they searched Google when preparing their answers. Responding to this scenario, I asked students a few in-directed questions for them to think about what we have learned.

• Proof questions:

  • About a half of students showed their understanding of the problem, how to provide a proof, and another half struggled to show a clear approach to their problems.

  • I included a few problems from the first three problem sets.

    • Students who had provided solutions for those problems immediately picked them. However, it was very clear to me that they provided their original solutions without any revision based on my comments. *Disappointed*

    • Some students picked one of these problems because they look familiar, but hadn't looked at the provided solutions to review for the exam. *Disappointed*

• I had to extend the time-slot duration from 1 hour to 1:30 hours because it took the first two groups almost 20 minutes to finish their group problem, and when students could not provide a good solution, I asked them in-directed questions or hints, hoping to help them correct their answers or at least provide them some credits for understanding the required concepts.

What I really like!

• It was clear to me that students did not try to look up answers on the internet. Some students used their past submissions, but at least they were their own work.

• When asked to self-evaluate, students were honest with their own learning process and progress. Some promised me to study harder, so they could show me a solid understanding of the class materials. *I really hope they will keep their promise*

What I will change in the next exam:

• I'm planning on have a stricter grading scheme, meaning that I will only provide one hint or ask one in-directed question if students need guidance.

• I will reduce the number of proof questions down to 4-5 problems, and none of the problems are directly chosen from the problem sets.