Appendix C-19 - Response

I feel that it is extremely useful to provide students with expectations and criteria well in advance as well as outline the direction a class will take them. A knowledge of the outcome and its purpose is a great way to ensure that students are not confused as to what they will be learning. I have found this useful in the past since I enjoy knowing the marking scheme in advance. Also, when marks are returned to the student it is sometimes comforting to be able to weight the mark against your overall grade even if only for self assessment purposes. It would surely be time consuming to create in-depth outlines for all courses but I firmly believe that the time spent would pay off in the end by not only answering grading questions before they are asked, but also acting as somewhat of a road map for the course. Unclear marking criteria is a sure to cause varied work output from students and a poor understanding of what needs to be done to successfully complete the work. It will also make it difficult for the teacher to assess not only the students but also themselves.