In my few years here as an instructor, I’ve been wrestling with the question of how to differentiate the material to support all levels of learners. It is not uncommon for some students to feel as though a large set of similar exercises is a waste of their time. I do not entirely agree with this sentiment, but I will concede that some students grasp and internalize concepts faster than others. Some students need a lot of practice, others may not. The struggle relates in how to keep the materials delivered in a fair and organized manner so that the students who need practice can get it, while the students who feel they need challenged are also given what they need. If I were to challenge the whole class, this might be too much for some, but if I were to only give exercises, this may be too little for others.
Enter the bounty system….
“Bounties” will be developed (when possible) as a means to earn “Bounty Points”
A bounty will have a set timeframe (Eg. VB year, During Ch. 1 – 3) and it can be worth x amount of extra credit (“Bounty Points”) to be applied to an assignment, or multiple assignments.
Students who feel (and have demonstrated) that large exercise sets are not helping their ability to grow can choose to do a subset of exercises and then complete a bounty (Eg. If an assignment has 10 exercises, each worth 3 points, they may complete 5 of the 10 exercises and then seek an applicable bounty for the other 15 points). The use of bounty points will need to be noted prominently on the assignment, along with how many points are being used and how many the student thinks he/she has left.
Bounties may be in the form of a larger program directly related to the current concepts, or something completely different (such as a video tutorial I’d like to see done, along with a blog post summarizing the experience and evidence of what was created)
“Bounty points” will be rewarded as a currency, which can be applied to any assignment for up to half of its value. So, everyone has to do some of every assignment, but some students can get away with doing less.
If I can build this up, it will provide students who need time to do rudimentary practice the time to do it, but the students who don’t really need the practice can do the bounty.
Bounties will be posted in the forum with a set number of bounty points, where students will sign up for them. (maybe?). Bounties may or may not have a target class (Fundamentals, Even/Odd), and may or may not have a window of availability (Eg. “February 2023 Bounty”). Bounties may be added or removed (if inactive or expired) at any time. Bounties may be open to any number of students, or be offered as a first-to-sign-up basis (Eg. If I want a video reviewed, I may not want 10 students all doing the same video, I may want just 1).
Bounties may also be in the form of providing support to other students during exercise sets by monitoring the help board. Eg. “Bounty: Manage help board 2/7/2023 (1-5pts)”. One student can sign up to manage the help board and if help is consistently provided (correctly) by the student, then points will be rewarded. This could free me up to offer help with some of the bounties.
Students may propose bounties if they are submitted digitally with clear goals/expectations for the outcome. These bounties may or may not be approved for “bounty points”
Note: Cheating on a bounty (Eg. using someone else’s work or an AI to provide a summary/article) will result in disqualification from the bounty opportunities.
Random Thought/Stretch Goal:
Develop a cryptocurrency to be used for bounty points.
