ID Tests August 21, 2009
Posted by jdresner in administrative, grading, hist 102 (Fall 2009), homework, study terms.3 comments
The pop quizzes and tests will be Term Identification tests: I will give you a list of terms selected from the “Key Terms” list at the end of each chapter, and you will write a short paragraph defining and explaining the importance of the term.
The answers I’m looking for have three important components:
- Definition: Basic information about what the person did or what the event involved or what the term means.
- Context: What country or region, what time period does this fit into? What else is happening around this term that’s important to know? What other people or events or concepts play a role?
- Significance: Why is this an important person or event or concept? What does this change about the world, and what comes after this that couldn’t have happened without it?
Definition alone, which is what you get if you memorize the textbook sidebar or a sentence or two from the text, gets you up to about a C. Context gets you to B-range. You need all three to make an A. (All of this assumes that you’re getting it right, of course.) You can get all that from the textbook, if you read it carefully, but it’s a lot easier if you listen to the lectures, too. Your answer on tests need not be limited to the material in a single chapter: many names and terms and processes will appear in multiple chapters; pop quizzes, on the other hand, will focus on the term as defined in the chapter assigned for that day.
You can find some exemplars of good work from previous semesters here and here.
I grade the individual questions on a 4-point scale: 4=A, 3=B, etc. On the tests, I then total those up and, taking the highest grade in the class as 100%, convert them back to a letter grade with pluses and minuses. I record that grade (on a hundred point scale, so F is still worth more than zero) as your grade on the test.
Fall 2009 Textbook for History 102: World History Since 1500 (sections 2 and 4) June 9, 2009
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The textbook we’ll be using is;
Voyages in World History: Volume 2 Since 1500 by Valerie Hansen and Kenneth R. Curtis.
If you want to order it online, make sure that you get the second volume: the ISBN for that is 978-0618077250
This is a new textbook for me, and looks quite readable and complete. I’ve used Valerie Hansen’s textbook on early China for years and have great respect for her scholarship and writing.
Finals Week Office Hours May 12, 2009
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I’ll be in my office in the morning from 10-12 on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and Friday afternoon until about 3. If you want to pick up graded tests and papers, that’s the time to do it. If you want to check your grade, you can come in, or send me an email.
If you want your graded final back, you can give me a self-addressed stamped envelope with your final, or come get it in the Fall — I don’t throw these things away for years.
Remember: your final essays are due in my office no later than 11 am on Friday the 15th.
Test 4 Results May 8, 2009
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As I expected, about a third of the class exercised the “drop this grade” option and didn’t take the test, so the distributions are a little odd. The most popular terms were Einstein and the Holocaust, followed by a near tie between penicillin, Hitler, atomic bombs, WW2, the Great Depression, UN and the greenhouse effect. What a century! Humanism, nationalism, secularism and the EU were the bottom of the pack.
The high score in the class was 44 out of a possible 48 (again!), but I used the second-highest score, 40, to preserve a reasonable distribution. The median score was a B again, but only barely. Here’s how the grade scale worked out:
| Grade | minimum points | distribution |
| A+ | 40 | |
| A | 38 | 15% |
| A- | 36 | |
| B+ | 33 | |
| B | 29 | 50% |
| B- | 26 | |
| C+ | 23 | |
| C | 19 | 30% |
| C- | 16 | |
| D+ | 13 | |
| D | 9 | 5% |
| D- | 6 | |
| F | 0 |
The extra credits were a little helpful, but seemed more challenging than I thought they’d be (each person was responsible for the two quotes immediately to their left, in order!)
Final Exam: Take-home essays due May 15th April 24, 2009
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The final exam can be found here. You have to do two essays, out of the seven listed (and there are actually more choices than that in some of the questions), and hand them in the morning of the 15th of May. I know that one section had a final scheduled for Thursday, but I want to give everyone as much time as possible. The downside is that late papers will not be accepted except in cases of medical emergency.
We’ll talk more about the exams on Monday, when you’ve had a chance to look them over.
Weekend Homework: Sadler and Marx March 27, 2009
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Since hardly anybody had done the readings for today — The Sadler Report from chapter 23 and the Communist Manifesto from chapter 24 — and I really couldn’t have a discussion under those conditions, everyone gets homework for the weekend: write a short summary, about a page for each, of the documents you were supposed to read for today (as indicated on the schedule and syllabus). It’s due Monday, 3/30.
Don’t forget to look at chapter 25, too, which is the reading for Monday.
UPDATE: Some people didn’t realize, it seems, that I meant for the homework to cover both readings. Hand in the other as soon as possible, so you can get full credit for the assignment.
Test 2 Results March 25, 2009
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The most popular terms were French and American Revolution, Thomas Jefferson and Napoleon. Only one person did Qianlong and only two did Kant.
The high score in the class was 39 out of a possible 48. The median score was a B; as you’d expect with a lower top score, the median was a bit higher than last time. Here’s how the grade scale worked out:
| Grade | minimum points | distribution |
| A+ | 39 | |
| A | 37 | 20% |
| A- | 35 | |
| B+ | 32 | |
| B | 28.25 | 45% |
| B- | 25.25 | |
| C+ | 22.25 | |
| C | 18.5 | 25% |
| C- | 15.5 | |
| D+ | 12.5 | |
| D | 8.75 | 10% |
| D- | 5.75 | |
| F | 0 |
11 people were helped by the extra credit, moving up a grade because of those points. That’s more than a third of the people who attempted the extra credit questions.
Two procedural notes and a small test change March 9, 2009
Posted by jdresner in administrative, doing history, grading, homework, study terms.add a comment
- If you email an assignment to me, I will email you back with an acknowledgement (or a question, if the file is missing or I have difficulty with opening it). If you don’t get an email confirmation from me, then I haven’t gotten it.
- I take class time to hand back assignments when I have finished grading them. If you are not in class when I hand them back, you need to come to me to get it; I don’t spend extra class time later trying to track down people to give them assignments. (Or you can wait until the next assignment is graded, since I do run through everything in my folder.)
On the next test, I’m going to keep the structure of the last one — Twelve terms: two from each chapter, plus four from any remaining terms — with a slight modification. Because we spent more time on the Enlightenment/revolution chapter, I’m going to require three from that one. You still have three “free choice” terms, though.
Schedule Update February 27, 2009
Posted by jdresner in Schedule Change, extra credit (S09), hist 102 (Spring 2009), homework.add a comment
Due to my illness earlier this week, I’ve had to shuffle the schedule for the next two weeks. Fortunately, I had built a catch-up/review day into the syllabus on the day before Spring Break: we lose that, but don’t have to lose any other material; everything just gets slipped back one day.
The only exception is the next document assignment: I’ve slipped that back two classes, so that we will be through the whole Enlightenment, Revolution and Napoleon section before you have to write it.
You can find the updated schedule here and the updated document assignment sheet here.
Oh, and a reminder: if you attend an extra credit opportunity event, all you have to do for me is write a short summary and reaction paper, no more than 1-2 pages, as proof of your participation. You can hand those in anytime during the semester, up to and including the last day; there’s no such thing as a “late” extra credit paper.
Document Assignment modifications February 19, 2009
Posted by jdresner in Schedule Change, administrative, hist 102 (Spring 2009), homework.add a comment
I have revised the course schedule and document assignment pages to reflect the new read-and-discuss-before-writing schedule and the additional input I gave you in the handout.
