I tell students that there's no mystery when it comes to grades. It's very clear in the syllabus how much each exam and assignment are worth. I make it a point to tell them I don't add points for effort because "effort" is unbelievably subjective, with few exceptions, on my part. I've had students who have come to my office to go over an exam and literally tune out. Are they there just to "show" an effort when they couldn't really care less about the exam, or are they really interested but start to dissociate for some other reason? How do I evaluate this objectively? How do I tell the difference between students who are vocal in telling me they put in a lot of effort, vocal in telling me their effort but are lying, and students who wouldn't have the AUDACITY to approach me about their effort because they would deem it inconsiderate bordering on anti-social (how many of us as students would have approached a professor and said, "but I put in so much effort" in an attempt to recieve a higher grade?). Attendance as a proxy for effort is also problematic, given the numerous valid issues that come up which can affect student attendance (e.g., family emergencies; illness - sometimes related to disability; athletics). I used to track attendance, but when you're dealing with classes of moderate size or larger, I was dealing with dozens of "notes" a semester from students who could get a note (notes are not always possible). It really became unfair to the student to have to prove their absence was valid, for example, if they were home sick with the flu and didn't visit a physician. All illnesses do not require medical intervention and to basically require this just for a note, in my opinion, is ludicrous (besides, do you know how easy it is to a get note from a physician these days even when someone just has a little cold?).
No, effort plays no direct part in my assignment of grades; it's all about their performance. Hopefully their effort pays off in their performance, but we all know some students who seem to put in scads of effort and just never perform well. I cannot fathom giving a student a higher grade (e.g., give them a C over a D, or B over a C) just because they've apparently demonstrated effort - especially when there are students who have mastered the material at a much higher level than those who are assigned the same grade. How is this fair to those other students who have demonstrated a clearer understanding of the material? This being said, it's virtually impossible to fail any of my classes if you've put in at least some effort by completing all assignments and taking all exams (only one student of 500+ in the last 5 years has failed solely due to performance issues). I'm afraid this rewarding effort when performance is not stellar is not really preparing them for the real world of work. For an extreme example: shall we give our medical students good grades for effort? Do you want to be a patient of a physician who just barely graduates due to effort? Shall we pass them on their state exams just because they studied really hard? Dean M. Amadio Siena College [email protected] Subject: Student Expectations Seen as Causing Grade Disputes - NYTimes.com From: "Christopher D. Green" <[email protected]> Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2009 08:35:34 -0500 X-Message-Number: 3 According to a UC Irvine report covered by the NYT today, about one third of students expect B's just for attending lectures, and 40 percent believe they earn B's by doing required reading. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/education/18college.html?_r=2 If I had only known... Chris ________________________________________ --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
