If you have been reading this blog you know I have been championing this novel video exam idea that I picked up on twitter. There have been a number of posts: https://cosmicpathways.org/2020/04/14/update-on-video-exams/

The jist: Students take an exam like normal. I gave them multiple days. They make a video of themselves explaining the exam. The professor grades the video.

I did this with my upper level classes to great effect. This summer I tried it in my physics I with about 45 students. DON’T DO IT!

The Good:  Folks did really well on exam.  That is the first time that I can remember that I have not used a curve.  You could tell that students thought about each problem deeply.

The Bad:  Often times, I couldn’t read the screen, or it was constantly moving (I felt seasick), or side ways, or couldn’t upload, etc etc. About 50% of the people in the class had some major difficulty with the video part of the exam. It was frustrating for me as a teacher having to solve all of the IT problems remotely. When I had an upper level class of physics majors this wasn’t as big of a deal. While I like working with students, I want to be teaching physics or mentoring, not teaching them how to upload youtube videos.

The Ugly:  While most people did well.  I could tell that only a few of the students were applying things they learned in this class.  Others were applying things they learned in other classes, or who knows where.  For example, using energy to solve stuff on the force exam.  Many problems didn’t have Free Body Diagrams!  I WAS GOING INSANE!!!!!!  The method was right, but it seemed as if it was done by an expert or a solutions manual.  There was no picture.  How could you solve these difficult problems and not solve the much easier lab problems?

THE REAL UGLY PART: I felt like I was borg! All day long I had cords wrapped around me. My headphone cords, computer cords, my cell phone power cord, etc. Any time I tried to move, I’d have unwrap all my cords. It took something like 12 over two days to grade the darn thing.

I NEED ANOTHER SOLUTION! I think I will ask for help.