Professor Abandons Grades for Experience Points

[Gaias]

I feel sad for the generation of kids that have to learn everything from an electronic device and will fail in life if they ever have to figure out anything for themselves.

 

[Fearzone]

Great idea... next he can rename tests: "boss fights."

 

[duchaked]

what an idea...I like it!

 

[FinalHeart95]

That's a pretty cool idea. At least until one of the kids finds some artifact like "Teacher's Copy of the Exam" that grants +infinity xp.

Damn hackers.

I only ask if it's possible to grind out xp in this class.

 

[samsonguy920]

As long as No Child Left Behind is in effect, this certainly won't fly in grade schools. But frankly, I love this idea. Gives more credit where credit is due: actual work in class.
I hope it catches on. I got bad 'Dead Poet's Society' [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097165/] vibes from this, with the thought some uptights in the school decide it is evil and needs to be destroyed.

Well said, true believer!

BTW, Greg, I dig your pic you used for this.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

It's so simple it's genius.

I want him as a teacher.

 

[Cid Silverwing]

Now THIS is revolution!

 

[Crystal Cuckoo]

He should totally draw/paste a little bar on every marked quiz to show his students how much they've progressed, and include a LEVEL UP! if they fill the bar and some more.

As Penny Arcade have demonstrated, people always want to fill bars!
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/3/12/

It would motivate all the guys in my English class, to say the least.

 

[King of the Sandbox]

So, when I aced a test, I get awesome victory music?

Score. ^_^

 

[Flight]

I'm not so sure this is a good idea. Isn't it still essentially the same system? It's just calling it by a different name, that's all. I guess I have to applaud the creativity of calling it "experience", though.

 

[ArchBlade]

...I intend to do everything in my power to find this man, meet him, and shake his hand. I wish grades actually worked like this, I would sure as hell be more motivated.

 

[Kollega]

It's a very good idea for two reasons.

1) Cumulative nature means you can offset the mediocre final exam with good results over the year or vice versa.
2) Knowing the obsessive nature of a gamer, there's no better way to get gamers learning.

 

[joshthor]

i think its a decent idea. extremely nerdy though. i think it would definitely motivate me if i could do extra projects during slow times in other classes if i could get extra credit or "experiance points" then. it seems - at least at my university - that every single class has the same busy times.

 

[Copter400]

This would probably motivate me to study harder.

 

[Latinidiot]

good Idea!
do you get the Final Fntasy vicory theme at the end of each quest?

 

[Mozza444]

Great idea.
I personally think it is stupid how your future could be decided by one test you took one day.
Rather than a years worth of hard work and accomplishments.

 

[GamingAwesome1]

I want this system in mah school! It would see a massive rise in my grades.

 

[Mobung]

I like this idea of rewarding the amount of effort a student puts in as opposed to only the quality of work they complete as I think it would lead to a far higher standard of graduates. Take for example, a borderline A level student that is getting good grades simply by coasting through and doing the minimum. Now imagine they were able to build up their grades continously throughout the year and were rewarded for putting in extra hours of work in, I would imaigne the standard of their work would dramatically increase due to the extra effort they are putting in.

Put simply, instead of encouraging students to get good results, the professor would be encouraging the behaviours which lead to good results.

When I was in high school, there was an Algebra teacher who gave students full credit on every homework assignment they turned in, whether the answers were right or not. Once these students got to Geometry, many of them switched out of the "hard" class I was in. It was regular Geometry. The only reason they thought it was hard was because the teacher graded their homework. Now their lazy study-habits resulted in Ds and Fs instead of Bs and Cs. He also didn't give out extra credit. So while grades based on effort may be nice in a game-theory class or analyzing-Harry-Potter class, they are not suited to maths and sciences.

 

[slowpoke999]

LVL 45 Engineer LFJ
LF10M Wallmart

I can just see it now

 

[Fr331anc3r]

I actually support that. Instead of a bad test holding you down on your grades, you could make up for it with actual growth.

This is exactly what I was thinking, different ways to level up for different learning styles. I might not have to participate in ever group project, or solo project, or quiz because I learn best by "grinding" (ie. Homework) so my greatest seen XP would be from that, but someone else might learn best by group project, or solo project. It'd help teach people time/spacial management and let them best figure out how they learn.