Ed Surge – David Kofoed Wind
“Three years ago I was teaching a graduate computer science course with 20 students. When students weren’t solving assignments or giving presentations, I was able to spend my time interacting with them one-on-one. The class operated smoothly. Then I changed the title of the course to include the words “big data”. Next year my course—using the same curriculum—had 150 students sign up! When teaching many students at once, some ordinary things become near impossible. There is no way to give personalized feedback when I have 600 pages to grade each week. (That’s 150 students x 10 assignments in 13 weeks x 5 pages per assignment). Colleagues suggested that I switch to multiple choice exams, but I declined because I believe strongly in the importance of open-ended problem solving. Instead, I decided to enhance my approach to problem solving by incorporating peer review—letting students participate in the feedback and assessment process.” (more)