This is Part 2 of:
Average tells us nothing.
Here are some very well rounded marks of a hypothetical student in a course:
The student starts out very average with 60% on the first 3 tests:
On the next test, the student shows much greater comprehension:
Then on the final test, the student shows mastery of the PLO’s, the prescribed learning outcomes:
Now if these were tests on completely different units, unrelated to each other, you could argue that the student deserves a 70% final. However if the student was learning information that was cumulative and knowledge at the end of the course required understanding of previous work, then wouldn’t the student deserve a higher mark?
For example, if the student was learning to code, and the simple(r) concepts learned at the start of the course (that the first 3 tests were on) were required understanding to do well in the second part of the course: Shouldn’t the student’s final mark represent greater understanding of the course than the 70% final mark from the average of all 5 tests?
The Parachute Packing Analogy
I love the simplicity of this example! There are 3 students who are in a parachute packing class:
Students take 3 tests during the course.
Student A starts off strong and gets an A on the first test, gets a B on the second test, is over-confident, flounders and gets a C on their final test.
Student B is a solid B student and gets B’s on all 3 tests.
Student C struggles on the first test and gets a C, starts understanding the concepts and gets a B on the second test, then totally understands all the concepts and finishes with an A on the final test.
All 3 students have a ‘B’ average in the course.
Which student do you want to pack your parachute?
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