The Slow Professor by Maggie Berg

Author:Maggie Berg
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781442663107
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Published: 2017-04-24T04:00:00+00:00

4. Marking

Marking assignments is the least enjoyable part of my work; I frequently get stomach ache. O’Reilley’s reaction is similar, though less severe: “one of the first things I noticed was how much unacknowledged physical tension I was bringing to the task” (74). Perhaps the way to reduce the stress of marking is to ensure that assignments are not just tools for evaluation but rather are useful and enjoyable for the students themselves. My colleague Sue Fostaty-Young once observed to me that as far as students are concerned the assignments are the course; Therese Huston writes that “students learn on the basis of what they do in your course, not on the basis of what you know” (60).

I have found that allowing students to follow their own interests results in far more interesting and, frequently, fascinating papers, and far fewer instances of plagiarism. Richard Ryan and Edward Deci would say that this strategy fosters students’ “intrinsic motivation.” The differences between “people whose motivation is authentic (literally, self-authored or endorsed) and those who are merely externally controlled” are quite astonishing: the former have more “interest, excitement and confidence, which in turn is manifest both as enhanced performance, persistence, and creativity ... and as heightened vitality ... self-esteem ... and general well-being” (69).

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