FINAL FOCUS WEEK -
A bad idea!
1. Some students with papers due during the previous week will ask for extensions. Students who want the 15th week free of papers due are already free to complete their work early. Why change anything?
2. If you don't understand what is going on by Week 14, how will "hitting the books" during Week 15 of the semester be of help? Cramming, by any other name, smells. Cramming is inconsistent with long-term memory.
3. The proposal decreases by almost 7% the time devoted to learning during a semester. Does Student Government propose reducing the course expectations by 7%, or should what was formerly scheduled for 15 weeks be presented and learned in 14 weeks?
4. Professors will disappear into the library to complete research projects or write new and improved final exams.
5. I am working to eliminate final exams in as many of my courses as possible. In other classes, the degree to which final exams determine final grades has been decreasing. Students seem to prefer these changes. FFW would represent a step backwards in this experiment.