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From: neves@ai.WISC.EDU (David M. Neves)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: Assigning the same Programming Assignments every time
Message-ID: <509@ai.WISC.EDU>
Date: Fri, 24-Apr-87 18:05:53 EST
Article-I.D.: ai.509
Posted: Fri Apr 24 18:05:53 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 25-Apr-87 23:46:38 EST
References: <248@rruxa.UUCP> <274@sdacs.ucsd.EDU> <211@axis.fr> <603@plx.UUCP> <3880@sdcc3.ucsd.EDU>
Reply-To: neves@ai.WISC.EDU (David M. Neves)
Organization: U of Wisconsin CS Dept
Lines: 49

>> Why do professors assign the *SAME* problems every semester anay?
>Because they're just like you and me:   *LAZY*!!!   Let's face it,
>if they don't have to, why bother?    

Sigh...  Do you know how long it takes to design a good assignment?

1.  An assignment should test and train the student on the material.
2.  It should not be too easy or too difficult (in terms of amount of
code and number of hours to do).
3.  It should be understandable to the students.  (For example don't
give an assignment that depends on understanding the American tax
system if you have foreign students.)
4.  It should be interesting (!) and hopefully relevant (!!).
5.  A variety of other constraints like: 
    don't give assignments that require class supplied input
    files if many of the students have their own micros,
    don't give assignments that can be found in books
    
I sometimes spend a couple of months thinking about an assignment.
After I have the idea I then have to write down all the information
that students may need.  On brand new assignments I often find out
later that I have left out 2 or 3 crucial pieces of information.
Students really hate it when you change or update assignments after
they have been handed out.  I then have to figure out how to make it
easy enough to do in 20-40 (or ?) hours time.

When students enjoy an assignment and it gives them good training why
through it out?  I try to change it just enough to discourage (or
detect) cheating.

One problem with totally changing an assignment every semester is that
the assignment may be too difficult some semesters and too easy
others.  For example, our database course here has 4 assignments and
the 2nd one this semester took students over 200 hours to complete.
If the same assignment is kept it could then be made easier.  Because
of the feedback given this semester the program description could be
made better.

I think that instructors and students both gain when assignments are
improved over time.  

If you think making assignments is so easy why don't you you generate
a complete new set of assignments for the class that you just
finished?  Make sure they fulfill all the constraints above.  Good
luck.
-- 
David Neves, Computer Sciences Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Usenet:  {allegra,heurikon,ihnp4,seismo}!uwvax!neves
Arpanet: neves@cs.wisc.edu