V The Necessity of Reactions

In this chapter, James (1899/1962) gives the very important maxim that there should be “no reception without reaction, no impression without correlative expressions” (p. 17).  He believes that teachers must make sure that everything they are teaching gets through to the students, can be exercised by them through different kinds of assignments, and can remain with them.  He also speaks of how the reaction of the student is also an impression on the teacher to let the teacher know if the chosen method of instruction has been productive. 

The section of this talk that most jumped out to me was his discussion of showing students their grades.  James (1899/1962) believes that, in spite of the argument that “this system [is] encouraging the pupil to work for the work’s sake, and not for the extraneous reward" ( p. 19), it is still important to fulfill the “pupil’s eagerness to know how well he does” because it is “in the line of his normal completeness of function" (p.19).  Letting the student know his or her grades is important, but not just for the sense of completeness of which he speaks.  More importantly, the student can learn from their mistakes, and the only way they can fully understand their mistakes (and how to correct them) is if graded papers and assignments are returned, with not just a numbered grade, but also copious amounts of insightful comments and suggestions.  I know that there have been many things that I will never again forget, not because I learned them well the first time, but because I missed them on an exam and had that pointed out to me.  It is such a shame to see so many instructors simply place a number or check mark on an assignment, without writing a single comment, when the student could learn so much more from seeing detailed results.  I also see this in the online courses that I work with at my job, where multiple-choice exams are graded by Blackboard automatically, and no additional comments are provided.  There is a function of Blackboard where feedback can be given depending on whether the student provided the correct or incorrect answer, but most of the time teachers do not take advantage of this feature.   Could the reason that teachers miss out on this important step be simply because of laziness, or are there too many grading responsibilities and other burdens placed on teachers?  What other technological tools could be used to facilitate instructor’s use of this crucial step in education?