Wow! I don't envy being in your shoes.
I'm having a difficult time figuring out whether you are concerned about
grades being too high or too low and I don't know the size of the
institution at which you are teaching.
One thing that I thought of is to weight your assignments so that they
contribute more or less to the overall grade based on the average you
are trying to achieve. If you are worried about inflation, the the
paper, esp. if you are of the view that an A is almost guaranteed could
contribute less than exams, where revision is not a possibility.
I do provide study guides, but I pull most directly from the learning
objectives that are typically found in the instructor's manual or
student study guides. Also, many are often posted on course companion
websites, which makes copy and paste really easy. And I tell them that
these are designed to help them identify the key concepts in the
textbook and it is up to them as a student to do the learning of those
key points.
Something else a colleague of mine mentioned is that on her exams, she
increases the amount of "not covered in lecture" content according to
the academic level of the course (Fr., So., Jr., Sr.). And this is
something I have more or less adopted as well. I include more "not in
lecture" questions for the Sr. than for the Jr. level, more in the Jr.
than the So. level, and so on. The study guides are handy here because
the students can focus on those non-lecture key concepts and their
application come exam time. But I stand firm on not giving hints about
where in a chapter I will select the non-lecture questions.
Another frequent assessments is to give pop quizzes so that students
are motivated to learn the material, and for those who don't do well on
them, to master the content by exam time.
Those are my thoughts on the issue.
Julie Osland
Mike wrote:
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
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--
Dr. Julie A. Osland, M.A., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Wheeling Jesuit University
316 Washington Avenue
Wheeling, WV 26003
Office: (304) 243-2329
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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