J. Paul Myers
Abstract
Occasionally computing courses cover a wide range of "prose" material. Testing students' understanding of such material is commonplace in the humanities, the social sciences, and many aspects of business. There the essay is often a preferred means for this assessment. For a variety of reasons, however, essays are not always appropriate in Computer Science (CS), leading to more traditional, short test items over a huge amount of material. Guidelines are presented here for the use of the help ("cheat") sheet as an aid and supplement for student study and exam preparation.
Note: No claim is made here that the use of help sheets is new; many faculty allow them. The present contribution is the delineation of guidelines and pedagogical criteria distinguishing circumstances that warrant in a thoughtful manner the use of this alternative to the open book test.
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Digital Library
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Index Terms
The cheat sheet as pedagogical tool
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