By: Stephan Skipper
One of the least anticipated times of the term for students is when it comes to final exams. Ninety minutes of just sitting in silence and answering questions, hoping that their studying was enough to help them pass. It all comes down to that, but there may be a better way.
On October the 14th, Saint Leo was host to Tony Crider, Ph.D., of Elon University in North Carolina. Dr. Crider spoke about his series of “Epic Finales” which are new and innovative ways to test students at the end of each term in lieu of a standard exam.
Dr. Crider specializes in the art of role-playing games, in which the participants, his students, take on the role of certain characters and collaborate to create a scenario. He uses these to actively engage his classes in on the lesson and make an impact that will enable them to more fondly remember the learning goals. His overall goal is to get his students to think about the lesson and not just memorize and study facts and numbers for them to be repeated on a cumulative test.
One of his most successful “finales” is what he dubbed “The Monolith.” In this, Dr. Crider had set a tall dark obelisk in the center of the classroom, something reminiscent of the 1968 Stanley Kubrick film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. The room was otherwise empty besides the object and a few hidden cameras.
The goal was to see how the students would react to the monolith. Within half an hour, they were actively engaging in a discussion about what the object could mean, complete with various calculations. After an hour, the discussion had turned to the students themselves, what they thought of the class and how they had grown.
Not only is the execution of this form of examination new and creative, so is the grading scale. Dr. Crider described it as a three-point scale: appropriate statement, it reflects the learning, and articulating a rationale for the action.
Dr. Crider also believes that making an epic finale can be quite easy, given the right circumstances. “It’s like making a cocktail. You take your learning goals, make it low stakes to not add any pressure, make it something new and unpredictable, add collaboration between the students, spice it up with a little mystery and throw in some awesome. Stir it all together and you have your very own epic finale.”
Not only did the teachers in attendance react positively, the students were wanting it as well. “I’d be very interested. This will be a way to liven up the memory of the class.” said junior Auston Larratta.
While this was mostly about science classes, that doesn’t mean they have to be the only department to enjoy this type of testing. Psychology, criminal justice, even English can have their own “epic finales” and make testing fun again.
