What's the Point?

We are winding down the academic year here at Purdue. Students are busy trying to do their semester long projects in the three days they have before it is due but somehow always get done to the satisfaction of the professor.  By the way, if it is possible for students to complete your semester long project by starting on it three days before it is due your project needs an overhaul and the subjet of a future blog post.


Students are also preparing for finals.  Don't get me wrong, final exams are fine to give to students as long as they are not comprehensive.  What is the point, really?  Every single student who takes a comprehensive final dreads it and those who give it do it so mindlessly because they had to do it when they were a student so we should perpetuate our ignorance of how the brain works when it comes to teaching and learning and give one, too.  Not me, of course.


To be clear, I am talking about the kind of comprehensive exam where the instructor spent 10 to 15 weeks giving presentations to students, having them do independent projects, read dozens of chapters from the required text, and other assigned readings, videos, and forth and then assigned readings from book, and then testing them over the whole thing.  And then giving the kids no clue as to what will be on the test, those smug bastards.

Based on what is known about the brain and the research that has been done on learning there is no good case for a final exam that is comprehensive due to the simple fact that the students cram all the materials into their short term memory to be remembered long enough to take the exam and then dump it the minute they walk out the door.  Largely because the professor has not taught the students on how to remember the wheat from the chaff using techniques found in the recent book Moonwalking with Einstein or Why Student's Don't Like School.  So I ask again, "what is the point?"

Faculty should do their best to chunk their course materials and test regularly throughout the term or semester to increase the probability of students retaining the information so that there is actually no need for a comprehensive final.  There should also be reflections performed by students during the term or semester on what they have learned to increase the probability of them retaining it in long term memory.  The bottom line in my book of teaching based on books on teaching and research is that if you have to give a comprehensive final you are not the high quality teacher that you would like to think yourself to be and should seek higher ground.

I have not given a final comprehensive exam ever here at Purdue.  I have no plans to do so in the future.  I have no intention of repeating the mistakes of stupid professors past.