The Pros And Cons Of A Portfoid Exam

Courses for decades have been taught in the traditional manner where a student takes several exams throughout the semester and then a final, timed exam. The final exam is a typical way for instructors to determining how well a student has learned a subject throughout the semester. Is this really the best format for a student to learn and have a deep understanding of the material covered in the course? Some students do well on a timed exam, but outside the testing environment show no deep understanding of the subject that was covered. The traditional format of a timed exam certainly has its limitations. Lately, many professionals have been looking into teaching methods which would be the most effective way for students to learn new material.
The article “Eliminate Final Exam in Intro to Flight Through the Use of Portfolios?” written by Dr. Aaron Altman focuses on the methods of teaching at universities and proposes a new method. This new method of teaching calls for final, timed exams to be replaced by the use of portfolios. Benjamin Bloom, John Biggs, K. Collis, and others have investigated how individuals learn and how they master the material. Bloom created a baseline in

For example, my first graduate course at the University of Dayton (UD) followed the “flipped classroom” method of teaching. The course itself seemed non-traditional from the start compared to my undergraduate courses at another university, but I just figured since I was a new university it was just how things were. It wasn’t until the end of the course while seeing the teacher evaluations I saw the term “flipped classroom” mentioned in one of the questions, and asking if we preferred the traditional classroom. The article written by Dr. Altman was informative and helped explain the concept of a portfolio based