Teaching with answers in the textbook
October 1, 2020 3:50 PM Subscribe
I am teaching a course at a university. The textbook the students have been assigned contains the answers to all the activities. How do I deal with this double-edged sword?
I've been teaching at the university level (here in Japan) for several years now, but--long story short--I've never taught with a textbook that contained the answers to the textbook activities; previously I've always controlled the answers and given them out as necessary.
But this textbook, in a grammar and vocabulary class, contains all the answers to the activities. Including the tests. I assign some activities in the text as homework, and we go over the answers in class.
One the one hand, it's great for students to be able to check their answers themselves without relying on the teacher. On the other hand, they can cheat and not do the work. This being Japan, the vast majority of students will probably not consider cheating...but that's not to say it could never happen.
What should I tell the students about the answers? Use them, but don't abuse them? A colleague of mine talked about this topic and said he didn't care about the answers being there, and even used the exams from the book for the course exams. This was in the spring, when it was online, so students could easily cheat. But this didn't phase him; he said it was on them if they wanted to improve themselves, and if they cheated and got an easy A, it was not his problem (it sounds flippant the way I just wrote that, but it's a rough paraphrase).
Any teachers with experience with this matter? Thanks.
I've been teaching at the university level (here in Japan) for several years now, but--long story short--I've never taught with a textbook that contained the answers to the textbook activities; previously I've always controlled the answers and given them out as necessary.
But this textbook, in a grammar and vocabulary class, contains all the answers to the activities. Including the tests. I assign some activities in the text as homework, and we go over the answers in class.
One the one hand, it's great for students to be able to check their answers themselves without relying on the teacher. On the other hand, they can cheat and not do the work. This being Japan, the vast majority of students will probably not consider cheating...but that's not to say it could never happen.
What should I tell the students about the answers? Use them, but don't abuse them? A colleague of mine talked about this topic and said he didn't care about the answers being there, and even used the exams from the book for the course exams. This was in the spring, when it was online, so students could easily cheat. But this didn't phase him; he said it was on them if they wanted to improve themselves, and if they cheated and got an easy A, it was not his problem (it sounds flippant the way I just wrote that, but it's a rough paraphrase).
Any teachers with experience with this matter? Thanks.
Best answer: I used to teach math at a community college. I did not assign specific problems; I told the students to do a couple early problems from each section, and skip forward till you hit a snag. Then backtrack. I didn't grade the homework as a percent correct - the answers were in the back of the book. Instead, since they were supposed to do an hour of homework for each hour of class time, I would give each homework turned in a point value of 0-1 hour. After a week or two in class, I knew who knew the material, and who was trying to cheat my system. For a three-credit-hour class, I didn't tell them but I only expected 2 "hours" of homework, unless they really needed remedial work.
They're adults, or almost adults. Accordingly, they need to self-regulate, be honest with themselves on how well they are learning the material, and react accordingly.
posted by notsnot at 5:41 PM on October 1, 2020
They're adults, or almost adults. Accordingly, they need to self-regulate, be honest with themselves on how well they are learning the material, and react accordingly.
posted by notsnot at 5:41 PM on October 1, 2020
Best answer: I took one graduate course (statistics) in which the instructor assigned problems, told us to check our answers in the back of the book, and come to class with questions about anything we had gotten wrong or didn't understand. In a course where you need to know how to do something in order to do any further work in teh field, you better believe people try to do the exercises first.
posted by Peach at 6:04 PM on October 1, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by Peach at 6:04 PM on October 1, 2020 [6 favorites]
Checking the answers is a valuable learning tool, especially for folks who learn best by "doing." If you're looking to check comprehension without an answer key, you have to write your own problem set or create your own activities.
posted by Schielisque at 6:09 PM on October 1, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by Schielisque at 6:09 PM on October 1, 2020 [3 favorites]
Are you not allowed/not able to create your own assignments or grading structure?
I've taught classes where the answers to textbook problems were easily available - and even when they weren't, I made at least some solutions available because it really helps students practice.
You ought to separate practice from assessment. Use the textbook problems for practice, and and make your own, similar problems for assessment.
To get them to actually do the practice, instead of copying it, make the practice valuable and not just busy work. Design your assessments so that if you understand the practice, you'll do well on the assessments. If your practice doesn't help them on the assessments, something's wrong anyway: either your practice isn't helping them with the skills you want them to learn or you're assessing the wrong things.
I would probably tell them that I expected them to do practice problems ##-##, check their answers, and then bring their questions to class. And then I would have regular, low-stakes assessments testing exactly the vocabulary/grammar in the practice - after they'd had a chance to ask their questions.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 6:42 PM on October 1, 2020 [6 favorites]
I've taught classes where the answers to textbook problems were easily available - and even when they weren't, I made at least some solutions available because it really helps students practice.
You ought to separate practice from assessment. Use the textbook problems for practice, and and make your own, similar problems for assessment.
To get them to actually do the practice, instead of copying it, make the practice valuable and not just busy work. Design your assessments so that if you understand the practice, you'll do well on the assessments. If your practice doesn't help them on the assessments, something's wrong anyway: either your practice isn't helping them with the skills you want them to learn or you're assessing the wrong things.
I would probably tell them that I expected them to do practice problems ##-##, check their answers, and then bring their questions to class. And then I would have regular, low-stakes assessments testing exactly the vocabulary/grammar in the practice - after they'd had a chance to ask their questions.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 6:42 PM on October 1, 2020 [6 favorites]
After the students work through those activities and affirm that they are getting the right answers, perhaps have them write activities or quiz questions for each other and trade. You learn so much by teaching, why not share that opportunity with them?
posted by Knowyournuts at 7:53 PM on October 1, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by Knowyournuts at 7:53 PM on October 1, 2020 [5 favorites]
previously I've always controlled the answers
Did you, though? These days, the answers are always available. If possible, you really need a different tool beside this single text for assessment -- preferably something with a randomization element (different problems for each student) and a time limit.
posted by klausman at 8:34 PM on October 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
Did you, though? These days, the answers are always available. If possible, you really need a different tool beside this single text for assessment -- preferably something with a randomization element (different problems for each student) and a time limit.
posted by klausman at 8:34 PM on October 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I usually make the answers available to practice problems, because I have too many students to always check their work myself and I also think it wouldn't be the most efficient use of my time, because I don't detract points for mistakes in the practice phase - I just check if a good-faith-attempt has been made. I want students to see mistakes as a learning opportunity and I actually kinda prefer them to hand in assignments with mistakes, because that suggests they tried it themselves instead of just copying from the A-students.
I develop my own problems for graded exams. I make it clear that students will have a hard time passing the exam if they don't do the practice assignment. My exams are usually very close to the practice assignments.
Sometimes, when an assignment is sufficiently complex to justify a bit of discussion/there are multiple valid ways to approach the problem, I have students present their solution in class for extra-credit and ask follow-up questions to see if they actually understand what they did. If they just copied the answer key, I should usually notice. Sometimes I wait for voluntary candidates to appear, sometimes I randomly draw student names out of a hat, but I give students the chance to decline such an opportunity twice per term without that affecting the grade, because everyone can have an off-day, where they don't feel up to being put on the spot like that.
With younger students, I also sometimes have them hand in "error-journals", where they are required to document their own mistakes for each assignment. If they didn't make any mistake in a particular assignment, they can just write "no mistakes", and if they then also do well on the test, well, fair enough. But if they never document any mistakes, and then do badly on the test, I make them aware that they will face extra scrutiny from now on/will be priority candidates for mini-presentations of solutions in the lessons to come.
When I was a student, I always kept error journals whether teachers required them or not, and it's a method that has served me personally very well, so I try to sell it to my students as something that might really benefit them. You can't keep an error journal if you always just copy the answer key, so that should be a good incentive to actually do the assignment.
posted by sohalt at 2:12 AM on October 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
I develop my own problems for graded exams. I make it clear that students will have a hard time passing the exam if they don't do the practice assignment. My exams are usually very close to the practice assignments.
Sometimes, when an assignment is sufficiently complex to justify a bit of discussion/there are multiple valid ways to approach the problem, I have students present their solution in class for extra-credit and ask follow-up questions to see if they actually understand what they did. If they just copied the answer key, I should usually notice. Sometimes I wait for voluntary candidates to appear, sometimes I randomly draw student names out of a hat, but I give students the chance to decline such an opportunity twice per term without that affecting the grade, because everyone can have an off-day, where they don't feel up to being put on the spot like that.
With younger students, I also sometimes have them hand in "error-journals", where they are required to document their own mistakes for each assignment. If they didn't make any mistake in a particular assignment, they can just write "no mistakes", and if they then also do well on the test, well, fair enough. But if they never document any mistakes, and then do badly on the test, I make them aware that they will face extra scrutiny from now on/will be priority candidates for mini-presentations of solutions in the lessons to come.
When I was a student, I always kept error journals whether teachers required them or not, and it's a method that has served me personally very well, so I try to sell it to my students as something that might really benefit them. You can't keep an error journal if you always just copy the answer key, so that should be a good incentive to actually do the assignment.
posted by sohalt at 2:12 AM on October 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Are you troubled by there being answers to homework exercises, or to tests?
As far as tests go - or anything else where students are graded on having correct answers - you should be making your own every year regardless. Even if the book did not supply answers, a student could easily pass down one year's answers to future students, or pay someone to write a cheat sheet for the in-book tests.
As far as homework exercises: it's a very good thing that there are answers! That's a huge resource for your students. You have a few options:
- assign the exercises and review all the answers quickly in class, focusing on things like pronunciation and getting a sense of whether the students are comfortable with the new words and constructions. This gives students more practice and an opportunity to ask questions, but also doesn't really stretch them in any way and may be boring for those who are comfortable with the material.
- assign the exercises and tell the students to review the answers on their own, coming to class prepared with any questions they might have about the material. Use your class time to (a) answer those questions, and (b) get your students speaking and writing in new ways using the words and constructions they've practiced in the homework. This way your students get much more practice, as well as more varied practice (conversational vs. written, for example). Slightly more work for you, and much more value for them.
- assign completely different exercises that you create, telling students they can use the book exercises for extra practice. Presumably the book exercises are relatively basic (fill in the blank, multiple choice, short answer, even translation exercises - none of these really have students using the language creatively on their own). So ideally your exercises would build on the book ones but take things to another level, getting students to write short paragraphs or dialogues (which they could then perform in class), having them make their own exercises for classmates, etc.
In short, take this as an opportunity to offer your students a deeper engagement with the material. Students' use of book answers should be treated as a commendable effort and effective learning strategy - definitely not cheating.
posted by trig at 2:18 AM on October 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
As far as tests go - or anything else where students are graded on having correct answers - you should be making your own every year regardless. Even if the book did not supply answers, a student could easily pass down one year's answers to future students, or pay someone to write a cheat sheet for the in-book tests.
As far as homework exercises: it's a very good thing that there are answers! That's a huge resource for your students. You have a few options:
- assign the exercises and review all the answers quickly in class, focusing on things like pronunciation and getting a sense of whether the students are comfortable with the new words and constructions. This gives students more practice and an opportunity to ask questions, but also doesn't really stretch them in any way and may be boring for those who are comfortable with the material.
- assign the exercises and tell the students to review the answers on their own, coming to class prepared with any questions they might have about the material. Use your class time to (a) answer those questions, and (b) get your students speaking and writing in new ways using the words and constructions they've practiced in the homework. This way your students get much more practice, as well as more varied practice (conversational vs. written, for example). Slightly more work for you, and much more value for them.
- assign completely different exercises that you create, telling students they can use the book exercises for extra practice. Presumably the book exercises are relatively basic (fill in the blank, multiple choice, short answer, even translation exercises - none of these really have students using the language creatively on their own). So ideally your exercises would build on the book ones but take things to another level, getting students to write short paragraphs or dialogues (which they could then perform in class), having them make their own exercises for classmates, etc.
In short, take this as an opportunity to offer your students a deeper engagement with the material. Students' use of book answers should be treated as a commendable effort and effective learning strategy - definitely not cheating.
posted by trig at 2:18 AM on October 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
I went to a school that had take-home, open book exams. Sometimes even finals. It was very successful. I really don't believe there is any way a professor can force students to learn or make it impossible to cheat. So why not give those students who do want to excel the best opportunity? It's really hard to learn something from a problem set to something you don't understand in the first place. Yes, ideally, the student would have understood the preparatory materials and previous concepts from the prerequisites and the class, but that don't always happen. Slogging through the sixth problem you don't understand is not going to give any more edification than the first. So it would not give me heartburn to grade based on problems whose answers are given in the back, especially since the answer key is probably available somewhere anyway. Whether the student understands the answer they produced is going to be pretty clear from their work and their responses to original problems.
posted by wnissen at 9:53 AM on October 6, 2020
posted by wnissen at 9:53 AM on October 6, 2020
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I had open-book exams for a good chunk of my law school exams as well as my bar admission exams in Ontario so I don't think having answers in the back is a problem. For the activities if they want to not do the work and still get the right answers then yeah they can do it. You can adjust your marking scheme accordingly and make the activities worth less as far as marks are concerned to reduce the impact of cheating. For your exam don't use the ones in the book. I get the point that your colleague was trying to make but someone "cheating" to a higher mark also deprives the students who didn't cheat.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 4:22 PM on October 1, 2020