Our son went to Indiana about ten years ago. When his grades arrived , we were very surprized. The report listed how any students in the class received As, Bs, Cs, Ds, and Fs.
I use to go to Ratemyprofessor, but I gave up a few years ago. I would read the ratings and say, "Hey, how about my side of the story? This student didn't come to class, didn't do the assignments,etc." I work really hard to get my students to do well. The bottom line is coming to class, doing assignments, reading the text, and studying for tests is what the students need to do. Jim Jim Matiya Visiting Instructor in Psychology Florida Gulf Coast University [email protected] > Subject: RE: [tips] Revealing the grade distributions for our courses > Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2011 23:36:35 -0500 > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > > I see no problem, also. I thought that the grade distribution was public > information for those of us teaching at public institutions (unless the class > has fewer than 10 students, then it can't be released by FERPA rules). > > When I was an undergraduate at Georgia Tech an enterprising group of students > started rating professors based on student feedback. They put forms in drop > boxes on campus (how they got permission, I don't know). Students filled them > out and they collected the ratings (this was before institutionalized teacher > evaluations were done) and comments. If you remember those days, you also > remember grades being posted on the teacher's office door, often listed by > student number which was your SSN (!) for the longest time. So, getting the > grade distribution for nearly all classes was just an exercise in walking the > hallways the week after finals. So, grade distributions were published, too. > They published it in book form and sold it for a few bucks. It was always too > late to use for the next quarter, but it was useful for many terms later. We > bought them in droves. > > I see sites like ratemyprofessor as the same thing as that book from over 30 > years ago. I'm surprised students don't enter information into it more. > > Paul C. Bernhardt > Department of Psychology > Frostburg State University > Frostburg, Maryland > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: don allen [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Mon 1/10/2011 9:03 PM > To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) > Subject: Re: [tips] Revealing the grade distributions for our courses > > Hi Miguel- > > I don't see a problem with this at all. In fact, I think that it is a > positive. Really not very different than ratemyprofessors.com. If I were to > become a student again (in a formal sense; I hope I never stop being a > student) I would want to have access to a resource like this. I once worked > with a person who regularly failed half of his class. By midterm, his class > of 15 (all he could muster) was down to seven. A lot of the students didn't > even bother to attend his classes. I once walked down the hall and saw him > lecturing to TWO! students. If these students had had access to course eval > information and grade distributions they would have voted with their feet & > we could have gotten rid of him far more quickly. Information empowers. Sure, > some will use it in the search for the "easy A", but others will use it to > avoid the (hopefully few) toxic profs. > > -Don. > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: [email protected] > Date: Monday, January 10, 2011 3:17 pm > Subject: [tips] Revealing the grade distributions for our courses > To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" > <[email protected]> > > > > > > > This weekend's edition of the NY Times included the Education > > Life section, which had an interesting opinion piece about how a > > private company used the Freedom of Information Act > > to successfully force professors at one state university to > > reveal the grade distributions for their courses. > > > > > > > > From the article: > > > > > > > > "The company is in the process of uploading the grades on > > CourseRank.com , a class planning Web site that Chegg acquired > > in August. Students who register for CourseRank will be able to > > take into account a professor's grade distribution, along with > > peer reviews and ratings, when deciding whether to take a > > class". > > > > > > > > http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/education/edlife/09notebook- > > t.html?_r=1&ref=edlife > > > > > > > > The piece raises a number of questions: Will students begin to > > make course section selections based on the instructor's grading > > profile? Does this approach further encourage grade inflation? > > > > > > > > Miguel > > > > > > --- > > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > > To unsubscribe click here: > > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13157.966b795bc7f3ccb35e3da08aebe98f18&n=T&l=tips&o=7814or > > send a blank email to > > leave-7814-13157.966b795bc7f3ccb35e3da08aebe98...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > > Don Allen > Retired professor > Langara College > > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13441.4e79e96ebb5671bdb50111f18f263003&n=T&l=tips&o=7817 > or send a blank email to > leave-7817-13441.4e79e96ebb5671bdb50111f18f263...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=7830 or send a blank email to leave-7830-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
