since i keep my scores for students in a spreadsheet and, i have to enter scores after each test/project ... how much extra effort is there for me to print a copy for the door? noneI've been reading people's comments with interest. The consensus seems to be that it will do no harm to display a list of grades, properly coded so that students can't infer each other's grades.On the other hand, are there actually any positive benefits to doing this? Does it actually give students enough _useful_ information to justify the extra effort?
the majority of institutions don't have any online grade system where students can go online and see their grades(One obvious reason in favor is to let students get their own grades before the papers are handed back. As an adjunct, I'm not on campus every day, so by the time I posted a list of grades students would be receiving their papers back anyway. I do post quiz solutions to the Web right away, so students can get a good idea of how they did and [I wish] learn from their mistakes.)
if they do ...it is likely to be FINAL grades ... not scores on tests, etc.
and even if there were ... i don't see how we can force instructors to use that method ... these methods are not free from security problems either
so, how do we communicate that information to students and not make "something" public? in large classes, it is almost impossible to pass out tests to individual students or give them their projects back in a class setting ... to have them come to your office is a mess too ... so, for most instructors ... in larger classes (which is far too frequent i know) ... the only practical way to give student info is either by posting on a door, etc. or ... putting a stack of projects in some location ... all the while using ONLY some coding scheme or last 4 SS digits, etc. ... NOT revealing their names or full SS numbers
students clearly want to know their results in a timely manner and they HAVE THAT RIGHT ... and, there has to be some compromise between designing some elaborate time consuming process that makes the instructor spend needless hours of extra work ... and (compared to) something that may theoretically give the possibility that another student might find out what bill or peggy did ...
i have not heard any convincing argument made that using something like the last 4 SS digits (which has been ruled to be legal) is harmful in any way to students who just want to get their results
we also agree that posting of full SS is not kosher .. it IS illegal ... just as posting students names is ... but, other than that ... there are a variety of perfectly legal and acceptable methods
some precautions ARE needed but, the extraordinary steps that some suggest seem totally unnecessary
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