I can comment a little on the all-drafts-lead-to-A-grades part. In all my upper division classes (and the methods sequence for the sophomores), I have them write papers and make presentations; and for all of those, I give them feedback on their initial ideas, preliminary research, outlines, and two (and sometimes three) drafts. You might think that at the end the papers would all be perfect.
They are not. Different students will spend differing amounts of time on the paper. Some will search hard for more references that can better bolster the justification for their hypotheses, and some will not. Some are better (clear, concise) writers. Some have better ideas (or are luckier in falling on an idea for which there is a lot of literature). And I have found over the years that the detail in my comments depends on the quality of what's presented to me: if I get a good draft, e.g., I can make detailed comments on usage and style; if I get a lousy draft, I'll spend my time working on structure and format. Everybody gets about the same amount of time, but the level of feedback will match the effort the students have put into the paper. (I have to qualify this and say that if it's exceptionally bad, they'll get more of my time, much of which will be in person.) So there's always a variety of quality at the end, in spite of the fact that I've worked them over the coals a number of times. m ------ "There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about." -- Margaret Wheatley -----Original Message----- From: Mike [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, April 27, 2007 10:15 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] Tension between enabling understanding and good grades with requirement for class averages I would like to hear some comments on how we are supposed to both foster understanding and enable good grades for students while, at the same time, supposedly coming up with a specific class average (lets say 68% (or higher for more senior courses)). For example. Frequent testing with concentration on major learning points will foster greater understanding and higher grades. Paper assignments where students are encouraged to hand in drafts up to the final paper all but guarantees an A paper. My students also frequently ask for "study guides" for exams, so they know what to concentrate on. Anyone know how one can do these and similar things, which are advocated by books on pedagogy, and yet still deliver a reasonable average for administration (without curving grades)? --Mike --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang= english --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english
