Open Book Exam Courses

[sirjake]

Every open book exam I have ever taken (and this includes ones for a couple of upper level undergraduate economics courses at a B & M school) were harder than proctored exams.

Right, but if it's more difficult, that would be categorically different than what I am referring to. I've taken difficult open book exams at B&M schools as well. They were always only a relatively small portion of the grade *or* were the type of test that rendered cheating rather obvious (written answers, etc).

If these really were harder than standard courses, or they had a way to make sure that students aren't consistently cheating on them, I wouldn't care. My impression thus far, though, is that these are *lowering* the bar rather than raising it or keeping it on par.

In essence, these are courses that lack any sort of good faith verification. That's all I'm saying. Lacking such, they are prone to abuse and those who are ethical and won't abuse them are the ones who will suffer.