Thread by @gauravsabnis

Ugh, old age happening. I've been posting multiple choice quizzes for over a decade and the first time, I messed up. 🙈🙈

Online multiple choice quizzes based on assigned readings is a big part of my pedagogy.

I hate testing students just because I'm supposed to test students.

I want there to be a real educational point to anything I ask students to do. Then they do it and everyone wins.

One thing I do is assign students a LOT of reading before coming to my class. So they all have a grasp of the basics and we can have a more productive discussion in class than just learning ABCD. I expect them to finish the readings.

But I was a student once, assigned readings.

I know that even the most well meaning and conscientious students could struggle to finish reading a 25 page pdf every week with level of attention and focus that they ideally should. Like I sometimes did, they might speed read it while walking to class.

College is hard.

Mine is just one of many demanding courses they take.
While I hold them to high standards of work ethic, I also try to not make that the main point of the testing and grading process.

So I do these online quizzes. Short, 5 questions, multiple choice, to be finished before class.

In the online quizzes, I try to focus on 5 of THE most relevant or important things in the readings.

So even if they can't read the full PDF at leisure (like I often couldn't as a student), at least the online quiz means they will search and read the most important bits.

For example, tomorrow, we dive deep into Disney. One of the things I want to focus on is the future of Hulu. It's a real question being discussed in the business press too.
With Disney pushing Disney+ and NBC pushing Peacock, what exactly is Hulu's future?

So when the Disney CFO says they will grow the base to 60 million by 2024, ummm, what? How? Where is the content? You think Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez will get you to 60 million? In a world where even Apple has a piece of the pie?

How does a CFO justify that?

Even if a student doesn't read all 25 pages carefully like I ideally would like them to, at least the graded quizzes before every reading make sure they know the main points. And are not surreptitiously trying to read while I'm teaching or others presenting.

Then I will explain, you know, Netflix is all of Netflix. That's the only thing Netflix does. Streaming.

But for Disney, Hulu is practically a rounding error. As it is for NBC. It's a weird relic of 00s.

So a Disney CFO will not be as accurate about streaming as a Netflix CFO.

Also, students like it very much if a professor doesn't double down on their mistakes but just says "yikes, my bad."

We are all the same people of different ages, folks. Students and teachers.

#AcademicTwitter

P.S. I can't believe they actually pay me to do all this and also supply me with captive audiences regularly. 😁😁