What if every exam-based class in college started with the final
exam? Students would file into the lecture hall (or multimedia
interactivity space) on day one and take the test. Their
teacher(s) would then use the students’ responses to gauge –
immediately and precisely – what kinds of prior knowledge and
experience they’ve brought into the class. Meanwhile, students
would encounter the learning goals of the course, having already
seen what knowledge and skills would be needed to achieve those
goals. No mystery, no doubt: students and teachers would know
where they stand, and where they need to go. Fast forward to the
end of the semester: on the last day of class, the students
would take the same test again. (Students with photographic
memories aside, most would not remember the exact questions from
the first time they took the test. And the exam could be
constructed in such a way – using mostly essays, for instance –
that remembering the questions would be the point.) Their
teacher(s) could then do a before