Teachers should minimize busywork

[tevarin]

"Student challenges prof, wins right to post source code he wrote for course"

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/06/11/student-challenges-p.html

The student is right, of course. But I think Cory Doctorow makes an even more interesting larger point:

"I've

Comments

[vrimj]

Well it is easier to do things where the outcome is known. Assignments were the teacher is not clear on what a good outcome will look like it is very likely to result in arbitray grading which is also bad for students.

Instead I think we should have a different type of class where students dance with the unknown and are graded on how fearlessly and creativly they explore

[tevarin]

I can imagine potential assignments where the teacher can grade the outcome easily, even without knowing the details of the process the student uses.

e.g. for an economics class: Predict the rate of job growth in the US economy over the next four weeks. Hard to do, but easy to grade after the four weeks are up. And potentially highly useful if a student comes up with an algorithm that consistently matches or beats the standard estimates.

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I agree fearless and creative exploration is worth rewarding (and, if possible, teaching) but I'm not sure how to grade it. Miles travelled into a wilderness? Money earned at an avant-garde art show? Awards won at a film festival?

[vrimj]

What if the algorthem is blind luck?

I think if you were grading an exploration class you would have to look at how often and how much you were suprised by what a student did. Basically I think you would reward intersting novelity

[tevarin]

Blind luck is possible, like christmas-treeing a multiple choice exam and acing it. But if you have lots of assignments, the effects of luck should cancel out over the long term. Worse I guess if the algorithm is consistently effective but unexplainable intuition and subconscious reasoning. Maybe grade 50% on pure success, and 50% on how well you can explain and replicate your method?