Thursday, June 14, 2007

Granddad's Biography

Me Mum just sent me the link to this biography of my grandfather, Foundation Professor of Geology at James Cook University.

I was pleased to discover his philosophy of examinations:

I always felt that an exam should be a learning experience and, at a graduate level, all exams were take-home exams where a student could consult with any book or person. The catch, however, was that the questions had no answers, and the grade was based upon the approach to unanswerable questions. Students have come back later to tell me that this was the greatest experience they had in preparing them for the real world.

1 comment:

Jenny said...

One of my friends did a law subject in which all the students assignments were marked down further than they should be. The only way for them to get the grade they deserved was to go and argue their case with the lecturer (and argue well!). I think it was training for the court room, though Kris was only doing the law subjects to support her accounting degree. Don't know how much use it was but she always got her mark.