Ugh. The final exam for this course is closed book and we are asked not to study or reference class materials after the exam was posted. The Exam Cram study forum was closed when the final was posted Sunday and is now not accessible in Moodle. I was at a convention Th-Sun, the last block of time (Th-Sat) that we were given to comment on and discuss each others' sample answers. Like most everyone else in the course I had not posted any answers until this past week (the last one before the final) and so there was nothing to read or comment on. I answered several questions early last week in anticipation of not having time to do so later in the week. I declined to read others' answers in the forum to sample questions I had not answered myself, but I did receive them in mail (83 messages). I did not have time Th-Sat to answer any more questions, or review others answers. I would perhaps have reviewed the other answers to the same questions I'd answered at least as that seemed fair by my measure.

The final was posted Sunday and I'd never planned to work on it before Monday. I'm not certain which questions I answered in the Exam Cram and cannot easily determine it from the snipped titles used in the emails. So, I have 83 mails worth of study material that I cannot filter down to the questions I did answer, that might have commentary on my answers that could be valuable. By my own ethic and by the course rules I shouldn't read any of them now and am thus unable to use any of that material to study with.

And finally: I am reviewing the videos and slides today. I took an extra day off of work in no small part to have some time to study before starting the final exam (answers are due wed night). By the reading of the exam guidelines this is against (the letter of) the rules, though I do not believe that I am wrong in studying before I look at the exam. The forum logs will show when I first look at the questions and I will not do so until after I'm done reviewing the lectures. My decision to limit the time I will have to respond in this way is no more problematic than the similar decision that I will not be able to work on classwork while I'm on shift at work tomorrow and Wed.

Still, I am troubled by these conflicts and felt I should write up what's going on. I'm not happy to be scraping the course rules and I'm really concerned about this making the final still more difficult than it was going to already be.

Tags: bbst
Current Mood: uweh