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The project was one that was supported by
the provost’s office and it was an opportunity
to select some students and to sit down with them
and, in my case it was a little bit special
because I had one student who had taken
several classes from me and kind of knew my
style, and I had the opportunity to work with
a second student who had taken a few classes
with me and was going to take—actually be taking—
the class that we’re going to talk about.
It was an opportunity for me to sit down with
the students and to tell them that, ‘this is
what I was trying to teach you and this was
my rationale for using the assessment tools
that I used,’ and the students could reply with,
‘well, this worked, this didn’t work,
this was kind of fun but it was pointless,’ and
really to establish a dialogue between me, the
professor, and the students; a collaboration if you will.
The most obvious answer to that question
is that the students are kind of the end consumer
of the whole thing and I think it’s dangerous
when anyone, but in particular somebody
involved in a teaching endeavor,
insulates themselves from their students.
Over the long haul I thing there’s a tendency
to maybe drift away from the core of what a class
is about or what it is that you’re trying to teach,
how useful your assessment tools are.
And so, I think, regardless of whether
this project had happened or not,
I have an obligation to the students to say,
‘hey, how did that go,’ to involve them in
the pedagogical process as much as possible.
I like to pride myself on the fact that usually
I have a good enough relationship with students
that they’re honest; they know I’m not looking
to get my ego stroked.
But it was nice to have some distance,
and say, you know, ‘say whatever you like,’
with the benefit of six months hindsight
on this project, or a year on this project.
“Did this work? What do you remember
right now about what you did?”
And in some cases it was wonderfully
rewarding for me because I go,
‘Yes! It worked,’ and in other cases the
blank stare would tell me all I needed to know,
that it didn’t really do what I wanted it to do.