Undergrad is mostly about getting knowledge in. The real learning happens later. Unless you are going to a technical school, you are going to be inundated with so much knowledge that it kinda as to happen.
And again, I specifically tell students that they should understand the material for the class. I will occasionally go into different research, or different models explaining why it isn’t ALWAYS the case, but we are talking rule of thumb for undergrads. This is the case more often than not when it is a survey class. Where a lot is out of my hands, which is why as I’ve now stated twice, I encourage critical thinking even on a multiple choice exam.
As for YOU not giving any in a graduate course? It just means you are missing a means to provide quick feedback to students. My field is specifically assessment / psychometrics…so I understand what these things measure. I’m also a big fan of a metric that will help them figure out where they are in relationship to the knowledge. Grad school? I’d most CERTAINLY hope these are counted far less in the final grade, but to me, these are for the students. I can give them on a much more regular interval and honestly? I know what they are measuring…a lot of professors have a bad taste left in their mouths because of them and refuse to admit there is any use nor validity. If you look at them as the be-all end-all of testing, you are going to encourage students not to learn. All tests fail to assess knowledge…every single one is a compromise to one extent or another. And yet…we still do them.
