Jonathan,
This sounds interesting, and demonstrates the variety that exists in making assignments and the grading of them. I have given tests (closed book), then given the same test immediately following (to the astonishments of the students), and the second go-around is open book, open notes, group effort. That second test of course is graded with less weight. That exercise proved to me that students benefited by group study and open access to information. These students learned the tested information in this manner. I have since not done that exercise, but I am convinced of its merit and application to student learning.
Barry Westling
Erica,
Here are a couple of key ideas. We want the grades to be fair, to be accurate, and aligned with the curriculum taught (vs what students's should know). Teaching to and testing to the course objectives is a good way to ensure that. In the end, we want to be sure our grading system measures the degree of learning that has occurred. There may many ways to segment the weights of components, but's less effective if measurement of learning has not been accurately evaluated.
Barry Westling
being fair is the biggest challenge.
In years of teaching undergraduates, I have come up with a system of group work.
Students do a term project in groups of 5-6. Also, I encourage them to form groups as soon as possible because I give 4-5 take-home quizzes, and I WANT them to work together on the quizzes.
In the real world, an employee can look something up. We do not have to carry all of the information of our job in our heads. What I'm trying to get them to do is to start working effectively together, so that when it is appropriate to start working on the project, they are a little experienced working together.
You would be surprised how many students get 50% on these take-home quizzes. When this started happening, I was shocked !! No one ever let me take a quiz home, and if someone did, I would certainly get 100% !!
So I TELL them - work with your group members, check each other.
With a major presentation, take-home quizzes, and in-class exams - most students think I have given them a fair chance because all learning styles are hit and varied evaluation types allow different students to shine on different types of assignments. This varied format lets each student show me what s/he's learned. Since students are our clients - this feeling of fairness is very important.
My biggest challenge forsetting up grading systems is weighing thr grades. I have to really think about the assignment expectations and weigh the grades accordingly.
Aldorey,
Great. Important for students to know what and how they will be graded.
Barry Westling
Aldorey,
For me the most important consideration in setting my grading criteria is that I fairly and accurately measure student learning. I really don't care so much about the different categories or weight as long as I feel, in the end, the student will have achieved an accurate grade, refective of the learning that occurred.
Barry Westling
Samuel,
Yep, I don't think any grading aspect of a course should occur prior to discussing it thoroughly with the students, and also including a written version of the same information in the course syllabus.
Barry Westling
Clay,
I like rubrics too, and find that most students like knowing what and how their work will be graded. Rubrics offer the potential to remove a lot of the subjectivity that is often present in grading practices.
Barry Westling
And one more I develop a rubric for my class in terms of points distribution and discuss it in my class on the first day so that they know what to expect...
Points distribution is the biggest challenge for me. But I manage to overcome this challenge by teaching the class the second time.
Using grading rubics is very important and this should be emphasized in the syllabus outline before the start of the class.
I develop a grading rubric that corresponds with each project. I review it with the class as I introduce the project, to the students know exactly what is required of them to be successful. It also helps me defend my method from the student that didn't know how I was grading or that I am too hard of a grader.
Mary,
Consistency among a variety of classes is good in that it reinforces expectations required for successful program completiuon, rather than merely a class at a time. My program tries to achieve this as well, and we have core classes, sciences classes, and general education classes, overlapping different departments and disciplines. It has taken time and stability of faculty to achieve, but in my opinion, it's worth the effort.
Barry Westling
The biggest challenge I have experienced are an inconsistentcy with grading class to class. We as a program decided to have the same grading scale, retest policy and attendance policy. This has helped the students to know what to expect in each class.
Chukwuka,
Right! Fairness and accuracy are two key elements of any grading system. Most of all, we want to be sure we are measuring the degree to which students learned. Extra credit, busy work assignments, or anything similar that doesn't contribute to mewasuring learnming should not be a part of any grading system.
Barry Westling
It does not matter how well a grading system is crafted, students who do not do well on a partucular assessment will look for ways to argue its unfairness. It would be nice to design a grading system that will be consistent with the college policy and has worked well in the past.
Sherry,
I agree extra points to pass a class has no value in student learning. For me, I try to make sure all my components (quizzes and exams, projects, labs, skills, homework, professional development) are balanced so that not just one category makes or breaks the student, but also, I want the most important ares to have more weight. In the end, it's important to to me to make sure I am accurately amnbd fairly measuring student learning.
Barry Westling
The grading system has to be clearly communicated to students at the onset of the course. I do not have extra credit as I have found in the past students were provided with an unfair advantage to make up points if they did poorly on an exam. I have 5% of the grade for professionalism points but I am thinking about increasing that to 10% so that students value it more.
Eddy,
Rubrics are great, as they are much more objective, and allow both instructor and student to know in advance what and how the course work will be assessed and graded.
Barry Westling
By Eddy mojena
I use different types of rubrics sometime I even make them up to fit what project I may put together for the students. It’s a great way for them to see the weight and how their graded per step of the way.
