In my last post, I pondered whether eliminating coercive elements of assessment changed student behavior. Would students complete assignments that had no direct effect on their grades?
So far, it looks like the answer is “no.” I’m teaching my usual autumn term course on economic development and environmental change. In previous years, I assigned a graded evaluation for each of the five games that students played in class. This time I assigned three evaluations. The first two were ungraded, but I provided students with feedback that they could apply to the third, graded evaluation, which is due next week.
In a class of twenty-five students, five completed the first evaluation. No students completed the second evaluation.
These numbers lead me to suspect that many of my students do what they do to avoid punishment, not because of intrinsic motivation or interest.
Perhaps I should investigate assessment optionality . . .
Their loss!
And many thanks for plugging next week’s event.