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Ashley Dale

Postgraduate Researcher,

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Examinations vs. Coursework in Education?

In my personal experience, I have noticed classes becoming more exam based than coursework/project-based.

I feel project-based learning is far more effective than exam-based learning - you actually apply what is taught in classes to problems, hence require understanding rather than regurgitate a memorised syllabus on paper in a couple of hours and forget it a week later. Of course in the latter, people shouldn't apply themselves like that - but the majority do.

Yes, exams are less time consuming to mark, but is that the only reason? We're too lazy .. too cheap to teach the next generation effectively?

Thoughts?

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    Marek Kasiak 200+

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    Aug 2 2011: Well, of course, as you've pointed out, coursework makes students to engage into learning process and definitely is far more effective than only an examination session. However, it seems to be necessary to mark that coursework makes students to focus only on the small part of the module material, whereas preparation to exams require broader knowledge.
    In my opinion British higher education system is one of the best. At my former university (Aberystwyth) 60-50% of my mark was the coursework, the rest of my mark was composed with exam result.

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