Self-tests are to help you
discover what you know and do not know. Research supports that this one of the
keys to learning successfully. You are not to look anything up or to worry, but
just force your brain to answer what it thinks now.
The Self-Tests have questions at
.01 each and those are not part of the 1000 total points. In other words, you
can test yourself to find out what you know and do not know at no loss in points.
The Full-Tests have questions at 1
each (or 2 each if the test is in sets where you may see one of two or more
possible questions). Unlike Self-Tests, you can take the Full-Tests as many
times as you want. The highest score
counts.
Making the highest score count
means it pays to persist. In other words, the course provides an incentive so that it pays to persist
until you learn all the words or locations.
What is an incentive? Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary
defines the word incentive as:
|
“something that makes a person try or work
hard or harder” |
Why is persistence so important? In the same way that knowing what you know and do not know
helps learning, persistence helps. My experience is that it is persistence
that saves you most of the time: never give up when you just start to sweat.
This is one of my favorite advocates for students and for how to help
them. Click on this video of a Ted Talk by Angela Duckworth (URL: https://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_grit_the_power_of_passion_and_perseverance
)
Another incentive is also meant to
encourage you to persist. With Learning Quizzes and Evidence Quizzes,
you earn 1 incentive point for each quiz:
1.
If you take both of a quiz's parts:
·
Its Self-Test
·
Its Full-Test (You have to make the level of
grade on the Full-Test that you want to make for your letter grade for the
class. Example: If you want an A, then you need to work until you have 90% or
more on the quiz; if you want a C, 70% or more.)
2.
If you complete both 2 days before the Unit Exam starts
If you
already know the content on the Self-Test, you do not need to persist by taking the Full-Test. Instead, use your persistence to learn something new.
For
example, if you made 80% or more on a Self-Test (and especially on many
Self-Tests), I have an alternative way of grading that means you do not have to
take a Full-Test when you already know the content. The syllabus explains that
I enter those points after the quizzes close for the Unit.
1. Click on
My Grades
2. Make sure the upper right
corner shows Course Order.
3. Look above Unit 1 Exam.
FYI: In the last few years Blackboard stopped displaying a grade if the date
had passed that you can do it. For example, if you did not do the Constitution
quiz self-test or full-test, then Blackboard
would not show it anymore at My Grades. On the other hand, if you see a 0
for the 1-point Incentive I give for doing that Constitution quiz, then
you can spot that you never did it.