Now we are nearing the end and it is time for the final exam. This is where my dilemma and guilt begins. I see how much stress the students are under this time of year and wish I could avoid adding to their stress. However, the goal of our assessments are to measure their performance against the course outcomes so, while these assessment measures are not always fun, they must be carried out. These exams serve a purpose and are more than just a rite of passage for college students.
Where I struggle in my classes is deciding the relative weight the final exam has on the student's final grade for the course. I make this determination before the course begins but I always have second thoughts when I get to the end of the course. A few years ago I read a book about college-level teaching where one of the book's contributors expressed a teaching philosophy that true assessments measure the student's knowledge and abilities at the end of the course rather than at a certain point during the course. In recent years I have adopted this philosophy in my undergraduate courses and have heavily weighted the final exam.
While I see the logic in placing higher weighting on the final exam, I also question the validity of measuring student performance at any one point in time. Perhaps the final exam is a valuable measure but there needs to be more equal distribution of measures across the semester. I'll have to think about this further and see if I change my philosophy on the final exam.
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