When I was in college, some survey classes required a lot of memorizing, and rightly so. Introductory biology springs to mind. That said, any good intro biology course should also be digging into the scientific method and what it means, so that students don't think that ALL of biology is about memorizing facts like "C bonds with G" and "the stages of the cell cycle are ...."
On the other hand, some introductory courses should NOT require memorization of any kind (e.g. anything in the humanities). As an example, the study of history is about seeing patterns in events and analyzing what was going on. Forcing students to memorize what year the Whiskey Rebellion happened in detracts from that goal. I majored in history, and never took a single exam that asked for a factoid. Most of my course grades were based on essays, and the few exams I took were based on essay questions. Ditto for English.
But of course, bubble tests are ever so much easier to grade. Especially if you administer them online.
Last edited by Val; 03/17/15 11:21 AM.
