Discussion: View Thread

When assigning take-home examinations etc. offer an "Early Bird Special"
for those who turn it in before halfway to the due date. I offer an
Early Bird Special of having to do only 4 of the 5 questions on my
take-home final examination to those students who get it done by
December 1st rather than the due date of December 17th. This is
actually currently an experiment but I am hoping that most students will
give my exam priority over things in other courses to avoid doing extra
work. If you try this let me know. If I get enough responses I guess
I'll have an article.



Cybercollegially,

Charles Wankel

Mg-Ed-Dv List Director

Dear Charles,
It is Saturday morning and as I read this email of yours my heart is filled with gratitude for how you manage and contribute to this management discussion group. You are truly a gem. I have benefited immeasurably from this opportunity not only from the great ideas of others on this list, but especially from you and how you manage the process.
Just wanted to say thanks.
Gratefully yours,
Harry

******************************************************
Prof. Harry J. Bury, Ph.D.
Professor of Organizational Behavior and Systems Management
Baldwin-Wallace College
275 Eastland Road
Berea, Ohio 44017-2088
Office Phone: (440)826-2395
***********************************************************



-----Original Message-----
From: Charles Wankel [mailto:wankelc@optonline.net]
Sent: Friday, November 15, 2002 11:12 PM
To: MG-ED-DV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
Subject: [MG-ED-DV] WANKEL'S TEACHING TIP OF THE DAY: EARLY BIRD SPECIAL
DISCOUNT


When assigning take-home examinations etc. offer an "Early Bird Special"
for those who turn it in before halfway to the due date. I offer an
Early Bird Special of having to do only 4 of the 5 questions on my
take-home final examination to those students who get it done by
December 1st rather than the due date of December 17th. This is
actually currently an experiment but I am hoping that most students will
give my exam priority over things in other courses to avoid doing extra
work. If you try this let me know. If I get enough responses I guess
I'll have an article.



Cybercollegially,

Charles Wankel

Mg-Ed-Dv List Director

Ditto, with great appreciation to Charles and all participants.

Sandra L. Gill, Ph. D.
Chair, MBA Programs
Benedictine University
Lisle, Illinois

From: THEPROF [mailto:fredpugh@msn.com]

This is good and I am going to try it. Thanks for the suggestion. Dr.
Pugh

Hello!
I love the "Early Bird Special" idea introduced by Charles and am interested in putting it to the test (I'll let you know :-). I offer another type of incentive but in regards to a final, rather extensive project. The students can turn in their project early for free feedback about how to make it better (ultimately resulting in a better grade), with no deleterious effect on their final grade until it is officially "turned in". Interestingly enough, I typically have only a small percentage (less than 10 percent) that take advantage of my offer. ..
Procrastination? Not interested in a better grade? Too much extra work? Hmmm....

Best regards,

Cynthia Roberts
Assistant Professor
Organizational Leadership
Purdue University North Central
csrobert@purduenc.edu

From: Ted Legatski [mailto:T.Legatski@tcu.edu]

For years I have offered the free feedback incentive, with only about
10% ever taking advantage of it. So, one year I decided to have interim
reports due, with ungraded feedback as the reward. While everyone
turned the reports in as required, students blasted the practice as
"ungraded homework" and too much work. Never mind that they were going
to have to do the work anyway, with much greater risk of a lower grade.
It just proves you can't please some people no matter how you try.

Ted Legatski
T.Legatski@tcu.edu

From: deborah [mailto:debnixon@sympatico.ca]

I have always offered the option of a draft review- out of 2 classes of
45 each, exactly 3 students took up the offer. It's always the best
students who take the offer and the ones who need the help the least. I
have my views as to why that's the case- but it gives the students
little room to move or negotiate if they're not happy with their grades.


Deborah Nixon

I share the same experience as deborah's. It is always the already good
students that take such offers. I know that is why they are good. As
Deborah said, this helps a lot to minimize grade complaints from those
who don't do well.

Abainesh Mitiku

Charles Wankel wrote:
>
> From: deborah [mailto:debnixon@sympatico.ca]
>
> I have always offered the option of a draft review- out of 2 classes of
> 45 each, exactly 3 students took up the offer. It's always the best
> students who take the offer and the ones who need the help the least. I
> have my views as to why that's the case- but it gives the students
> little room to move or negotiate if they're not happy with their grades.
>
> Deborah Nixon