Rethinking Assessment After a Classroom Emergency
One experience that significantly shaped my views on assessment happened during a midterm exam when a student had a medical emergency in class. The situation became difficult to manage within the constraints of a traditional written exam. Afterward, I spoke with several faculty members who mentioned they had never encountered a situation like that in decades of teaching, while it happened to me during my very first time serving as a primary instructor!!
In response, I shifted to a more flexible assessment format where students demonstrated their understanding through recorded video demos rather than completing the remainder of the exam in class. While the adjustment was initially unplanned, the experience made me reflect more carefully on how students demonstrate understanding and how assessment structures can better support accessibility and flexibility.
The experience reinforced for me that effective teaching is not only about careful planning, but also about responding fairly and thoughtfully when unexpected situations occur. As a newer instructor, I learned a great deal from navigating that challenge.
It also made me a strong advocate for structured testing centers. For example, UCR's CS Testing Center supports flexible, in-person proctored exams through a reservation-based system that allows students to complete assessments within an allotted time window. In an era of generative AI with lasting effects of remote learning post COVID, I think balancing academic integrity with flexibility is a must. Testing centers provide a useful middle ground: they maintain secure, proctored environments while also giving students more flexibility and reducing some of the stress associated with rigid exam scheduling.
More broadly, this made me think carefully about the role of feedback, accessibility, and flexibility in learning. I try to return grades and feedback to students as quickly as possible because I have noticed that students stay much more engaged when they can clearly track their progress and identify areas for improvement early.