By adding alternate forms of assessments to lecture classes throughout the semester, students are able to express what they have learned in different ways and hone in on a variety of skills.
Typical college lecture classes seat upwards of 200 students and have less than five exams for the entire semester’s grade. When lecture classes only give students a few major opportunities to excel in a class, success is sure to be difficult to reach.
Students do not always learn best by sitting and listening to a professor lecture for three hours a week. Even the students who prefer this teaching style struggle on the tests without additional assignments and resources.
Different students with different preferences often suffer from some degree of test-taking anxiety, and it can hinder their ability to convey what they know on the test. Before the exam even begins, students with test anxiety worry about their performance and desired grade, affecting how much retained information they recollect while taking the test.
According to Richard Frost of the British Council, tests “encourage students to consolidate and extend their knowledge.” Frost also goes on to say that exams “are ‘one-off’ events that do not necessarily give an entirely fair account of a student’s proficiency.” Tests are necessary for a lecture setting and should be used, but there should also be other forms of assessing competency.
Some options for additional assessments in lecture courses that should be offered in addition to exams could be portfolios, presentations and response essays.
When preparing for an in-class presentation, students will usually understand the material better than if the professor did all the work while students listen to all the information during lectures. Having to teach others the material encourages students to prepare for thorough explanations of the topic and ask related questions.
According to John Nestojko, a researcher in psychology at Washington University in St. Louis, “learners expecting to teach recalled more material correctly, they organized their recall more effectively and they had better memory for especially important information.”
Presentations also give students opportunities to exercise skills like teamwork and collaboration — important attributes desired by employers today.
Because students learn differently, it’s important that college professors consider learning styles when making their assignments each semester. By accommodating all learning styles and including a variety of assignments in their lectures, professors will gauge a better understanding of students’ learning and progress while also giving students better options to succeed.
