A teacher in California sold the space at the bottom of exams to advertisers. I suppose I’m no better using Google Ads on my blog and posting materials for my courses. I have not had a student complain about ads on my blog, yet. I don’t know if I would sell the footer on my handouts and exams to advertisers. I suppose it’s a way to generate revenue to cover educational expenses, but what student is going to want to patronize a company that sponsored an exam; especially if the student tanks the test.
I don’t think students would associate good thoughts about a business if there’s a big red F right next to “This test brought to you by the shady corner coffee house“
The other thing to consider is how many students would read the ad. As soon as they figure out that the footer of each page holds something not associated with the test or their grade I’m guessing that most of them will forget the ad completely.
The sample ad in the article was small and text only but, what about something more visually noisy. I wonder if a student could contest the validity of the exam because of a yellow, red, and green graphic advertising a new video game. That could really hamper concentration on the task at hand for some students.
I think I’ll keep my exams and handouts ad free.
USA Today: Ads on tests add up for teacher
