てきとうに, just getting the job done.

Reading time: 2 minutes

I’ve been working on a web app to help my students practice language listening in a different (and hopefully more accessible) manner. The process has been more onerous than difficult because, to be frank, I have had no clear direction nor format through which I’ve been developing this web app. It’s only recently I’ve started employing it with any level of certainty in my classes and noted one thing immediately…

My students want to do the minimum amount of work to get the maximum gains, even if they know that the gains are meaningless. In other words, they by-pass the process to “win”, even though the actual learning value is in the process.

Despite me informing them that the ‘points’ awarded at the end are of almost no value other than keeping a loose progress log, they resort to copy/pasting, google translating and general shenanigans to get the maximum points. I assume instant gratification is a far greater motivator than the prospect of some nebulous gains through diligent process work. Which… to be frank makes sense to me because that was also how I was at the age of 14.

I noticed them going through the entire gamut of options, which tragically took them longer to do, rather than read, comprehend what they were reading and make a selection.

I made the choice to include the Retry button because the app is meant to be a study aid, not an evaluative test, but it’s essentially become a Get-out-of-jail-free card.

…so what does this mean for me? Since I’ve been working without any real success metrics, this behavior has just thrown me for a loop. Am I doing my job properly here? Is addressing this even on my shoulders? Are my kids just rogue actors behaving like a menace because I’m forcing them to use this app in class?

In any case, I’m reconsidering testing for listening comprehension on the app. This behavior has rendered the comprehension portion of the quizzes useless. Instead, the app would address comprehension through learning (flashcards, vocabulary exercises) and the assessment component would be purely for listening skill building (dictation).

All this to say, I should probably eke out some form of success metrics with this thing. For one, I’d probably feel a lot less shitty about rogue behaviors and the speed of my progress. More importantly, I’d have actual indicators to objectively assess my work against. I also need to expand the test group beyond just my snarky little urchins at school.