As a new instructor, my career college already has a grading system in place. I follow that plan in regards to homework/papers being turned in late unless a student has spoken with me in advance. If they are going to be out of class, I will accept work from them without taking points off as long as they have a legitimate reason for being abent. It seems as if I follow the rules from our policy, they accept the grades they get. Some of the students complain but the majority of them understand why the policy is in place.
Ryan,
Not much I can add, other that I like to make sure whatever system I'm using, it's fair, accurate, effective in measuring understanding, and applicable to the profession the student is preparing for.
Barry Westling
I can say that I have not had this issue, because my school provides a set grade book and grading policy. I like this a lot because every instructor has the same grading style.
Pamela,
One approach may be for the students to participate in the delivery of required portions of lecture that you would normally provide. This activity could be used as a graded assignment, give the students time to study and prepare, and assure engagement. You can always fill in missing information, or provide your own emphasis, if that is needed.
Barry Westling
There are so many different things I want to share with the students that I am having a difficult time deciding on special projects.
MALCOLM,
This sounds great. I always want to make sure what I'm measuring (via grade components) is accurate. Sometimes, too easy or convenient for the instructor grade wise is not the best grading system to measure the student learning that has occurred.
Barry Westling
Where I teach, rubrics are required for all assignments. also a mid-term calculation is required for all students, with emphasis on any with less than a C average to date --for a while it was any student less that a B
Points earned out of Possible Points are encouraged and many instructors use a total of 1000 points. Excel is great !
Malcolm
Chris,
Yeah, that personal touch is very important. Even casual chats can help reinforce credibility and trust. Ultimately, students need (and want) the direction given by their instructor. Electronic grade books provide information, but not necessarily assistance.
Barry Westling
Communication with the student on their current status without having personal meetings with them often. Electronic grade book with student access should help this issue though.
Lacy,
Good. We need fairness and balance in our grading. If we want to measure learning, too much weight on one component can skew whether learning has occurred.
Barry Westling
I find that if you lay out your grading system like so and be up front with your students then there is less room for any misunderstanding latter on. My students also don't get so discouraged if they had one bad day and bombed a project once they realize that it is not one of the higher % of their grade.
Wenda,
Balance is important. Too much fluff, and students learn all they need. Too much weight on 1 or 2 tests can skew knowing what the student actually learned. Like a well balanced meal -- all the needed components need to be there for a satisfying, healthy (learning) experience.
Barry Westling
Determining what an assignment is worth. Not too much as to make the other assignments obsolete, but enough to motivate the student to complete the assignment. Finding a balance, so that the students strive and work on all assignments.
Bo,
I approach grading systems with this simple concept: how can I best measure learning? So, is this accomplished by a lot of daily quizzes? Or perhaps the homework plays a bigger role than usual. Or maybe the project serves to demonstrate comprehensive learning. In programs where there is an external, post graduation credentialing or licensing exam, exams my carry more weight. In general, weight of the different components should be based on how we can measure learning, keeping in mind that there are many ways to achieve that, and we want to be as accurate as possible.
Barry Westling
I used to put high value on the final.
What % is good for the final grade?
MARISSA,
Having an objective based grading system is a good way to assure all students are being assessed accurately and similarly. Essay style questions may be a bit more difficult to grade, but they also allow a student to express their knowledge in thier own individual manner, giving an opportunity to demonstrate whether they know the material or not (or to what degree).
Barry Westling
Even though I have been an instructor for many years, setting up a grading system is also a challenge for me. oftentimes I am not sure how to grade subjective answers. As a result, most of my questions are multiple choice, true/false and matching. I use a point system where I give the grade as a percentage. I can easily explain this system to the students.
Marketa,
I agree. Too often points and grades are dervived, but the real question is "did students learn, and to what degree?"
Barry Westling
Balance is the biggest challenge when setting up a grading system. You have to make sure that the learning objective is met but you don't want small mistakes or minor details to affect the overall grade.
David,
Great. In any grading system I am always interested that we are measuring learning and understanding, and not providing just a fair grading system (although obviously, any system should always be fair). Points and grades are of little use if students don't understand or have not learned the majority of required material.
Barry Westling
