What if the pass cuttoff is the equivalent of 80%? Then minimal performance would be fine. I only mention this because I believe several medical schools use a pass/fail system. So perhaps, pass/fail systems are ok, but our pass need not to be 50%. I assume, somehow, that the medical schools using pass/fail must get across the message that excellent performance is required for a "pass". I believe UofA (and UofT?) uses such a system --Mike
--- On Sun, 2/8/09, Joan Warmbold <[email protected]> wrote: From: Joan Warmbold <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [tips] globeandmail.com: Professor makes his mark, but it costs him his job To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]> Date: Sunday, February 8, 2009, 5:15 PM I thought there was empirical data relative to how students perform in classes that only have a pass-fail approach. I should be able to cite this but recall how it became clear fairly clearly that most students performed at the minimum level to get a pass. Ergo, the brief trial with pass-fail ended but for a few courses. Joan [email protected] > It is too bad that this (now former) professor's politics obscures the > critical educational question he poses: Would students work harder on > their courses if there were no grades (i.e., if knowledge was the ONLY > thing they could hope to take away from a course)? > http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090206.wprof06/BNStory/National/home?cid=al_gam_mostview > > It sounds to me like an empirical question. My prediction is that, > initially, some would work more, some less, and some the same but that, > after a (not very long) while, most would realize that there is not much > point in investing the time to attend dozens of hours of lectures unless > you actually learn something from them (especially if there is no grade > forthcoming to serve as a proxy for what you learned). > > On the other hand, attending a series of lectures, even if you do not > intend to become an expert in the topic, can be an interesting > experience, so perhaps many students would continue to attend but not > work hard. > > Chris > -- > > Christopher D. Green > Department of Psychology > York University > Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 > Canada > > > > 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 > [email protected] > http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ > > ========================== > > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly ([email protected]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
