Whew!
I am happy to report that passing back the exams to my creativity class wasn't as unpleasant as I thought it would be.
The students who showed up today (only about 1/2 the class) were relieved that there was a curve and there would be two opportunities to earn extra credit for the next exam.
The chair of the department had the same problem of poor performance on the first exam in his Positive Psychology class (though he flunked 75% of his class) and told me how he handled it. I thought it was a good suggestion so I spent 40 minutes showing the class what sort of answers I was looking for, telling them they need to keep up with the readings, giving them practice on a potential exam question for the next exam, and encouraging them to post answers to the discussion questions (some of which WILL appear on the exam). I think I convinced them that it was worth the risk of giving a wrong/stupid answer to the question to find out whether or not they were answering the question correctly. I reassured them that I would never slam on an incorrect answer (I don't do it in class, why would I do it online). I also made the class promise each other they would be nice and would never slam on another person's answer or start a flame war or anything. Having to say these things is pretty ironic given that a VERY strong theme running through last week's lectures is how fear of failure holds back creativity and opportunities for growth.
The students who showed up today (only about 1/2 the class) were relieved that there was a curve and there would be two opportunities to earn extra credit for the next exam.
The chair of the department had the same problem of poor performance on the first exam in his Positive Psychology class (though he flunked 75% of his class) and told me how he handled it. I thought it was a good suggestion so I spent 40 minutes showing the class what sort of answers I was looking for, telling them they need to keep up with the readings, giving them practice on a potential exam question for the next exam, and encouraging them to post answers to the discussion questions (some of which WILL appear on the exam). I think I convinced them that it was worth the risk of giving a wrong/stupid answer to the question to find out whether or not they were answering the question correctly. I reassured them that I would never slam on an incorrect answer (I don't do it in class, why would I do it online). I also made the class promise each other they would be nice and would never slam on another person's answer or start a flame war or anything. Having to say these things is pretty ironic given that a VERY strong theme running through last week's lectures is how fear of failure holds back creativity and opportunities for growth.