As you know, I have issues with testing. It is always worrisome to me that my testing may not be an accurate assessment of your understanding. That is not my only anxiety. I also have anxiety about how you are studying and learning. I think when we have a situation like the last test, with a low average, that I am partly responsible and you are partly responsible, and that both of us may not be aware of things we did that contributed to the poor outcome. I am anxious to help you and have been reading up on learning theories and thinking of things I could do to improve your learning.

• Frankly, I just don't care about grades but unless there are sweeping policy changes we aren't going to be able to get rid of grades. They are a source of stress and frustration to both you and me, but something we have to deal with.
  
• I feel about the same way with tests. Tests can be a helpful learning tool, and they can help assess a student's knowledge, but overall I'm not convinced tests are very useful in education.
• I do care about you are actually learning and understanding the material.
• I do want you to retain the information and the concepts, and I want you to be able to apply the information in your career.
• Instructors can harm learning and memory.
  • If I emphasize concepts and contextual relations in my lectures, but then test on small details that were not emphasized, not only will students perform poorly, but the devastation of the experience will lead to thinking that you didn't know what you thought you knew, and you will actually not remember the material as well. I try to test on what I believe has been covered. I try to come up with questions that will challenge people, but also give them a chance to show how well they understand the concepts. My goal is not to make you feel bad, nor to "weed out" students.
    
• We need to ask "why" more often
  • Kids learn a tremendous amount in their first 5 or 6 years of life. One of the things they do is to frequently ask "why." When I give a lecture on material that is new to you, the information is ARBITRARY. Until you have a framework for it then it is just random facts, which are really really hard to remember. But if you are constantly asking "why" type questions then you will build a mental framework.
  • So, instead of memorizing the fact that gram-positive cells stain blue and gram-negative cells stain red, it is better to ask "why is there a color difference between these two cell types when both have been exposed to the same staining procedure?"
  • In your own studying you should not simply read and try to absorb--you should actively question the material. Why this, why that, and why does this matter? (and you should think of some answers to your questions as you study)
• Quizzing can be helpful, but isn't always going to be
  
  • I thought open-book assignments would help prepare you for lecture. However, it is possible that this is harmful in a way--I cannot quiz on everything, and the few things I do quiz on may get more attention from your brain during lecture, and maybe will cause less emphasis to be put on material that was not in the homework assignment.
  • Open-ended questions that are more general may be more appropriate for pre-class quizzes. Having a multiple-choice quiz after class would help you retrieve the information
    • Open-ended questions are more difficult to grade, so we are probably going to stick with multiple choice
      
    • The more ways in which you retrieve the information, the better you will retain it