Dear Simon and colleagues,
I congratulate you for your fruitful translation of “canne à pêche” for “can of peaches”, similar to the Southwest Ontario anglo translation of the name of an island where the fish are plentiful: "Pêche Ile" has become “Peach Island” for many.
My own memorable translation from an early French class was “poste d’essence” as “perfume factory”.
Alan
W. Alan Wright, Ph.D.
Acting Dean of the Faculty of Education and Academic Development and
Vice-Provost, Teaching and Learning
University of Windsor
401 Sunset Avenue
Windsor, ON
Canada N9B 3P4
519 253 3000 (3801)
From: "Online forum for SEDA, the Staff & Educational Development Association" on behalf of Simon Horsman
Reply-To: Simon Horsman
Date: Monday, September 14, 2015 at 12:36 PM
To: "
[log in to unmask]"
Subject: Re: exam howlers
The critics are making an important point but, appropriately anonymised, the harm has to be negligible hasn’t it? If it cannot be anonymised, then
never publicise it.
And I still want credit for translating
canne a peche as can of peaches in my O level French class c1962 – 53 years on, the truth can be told.
Simon Horsman
Amen, we are here to encourage not discourage.
I have so long objected to this, for school students and uni students – so it is great to have it contested on a wider stage.
There is no sense of humour involved in mocking people behind their backs, anonymous or otherwise. It is no different from laughing at people when
they fall over a hidden obstacle put there for that express purpose. It cheapens and degrades those who do the mocking – so that’s OK!!
Ali Cooper |
PFHEA, MA, MEd, PGCE |
Educational Development Adviser | Organisation & Educational Development |
Thanks Helen. I'm glad this has come up and at the risk of sounding like someone without a sense of humour, I've always felt a little uneasy about this yearly tradition, because who wouldn't make mistakes when being asked to write very
fast for 3 hrs while sitting in a sports hall in May? Yes, some of them are very funny, but perhaps the biggest joke is on the people who think that the person who wins the exam game is the most intelligent one in the class...
I just stumbled across an initiative on twitter regarding the annual practice of publishing exam howlers by students in the national press, in particular the Times Higher's competition inviting academics to submit their students' funniest
mistakes. There's a letter being drafted to Universities UK, stating that not only does this 'shaming' of students conflict with the values of teaching, but may also breach universities' own policies around confidentiality and intellectual property in assessment.
It seems to me that this is an issue on which educational developers might also have much to say, and thought I would pass it on via this list.
The letter is currently in draft, and comments are invited:
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