Hi I liked the piece as well, but come away with a different conclusion than Chris. First, if grades were completely eliminated, then I suspect there would be a LOT less learning by a LOT more students. Might be an interesting exercise. Second, grades do provide a concise summary of the student's performance (learning?) in the course that is informative, especially when paired with an appreciation of what the course entails (e.g., course outlines, standard course content in many psychology courses). Third, the article was based on anecdotal evidence from a history professor. Not to belittle history professors, but probably not the group I would defer to about empirical questions related to teaching. My own anecdotal evidence is that the students who perform the best in classes do tend to be the ones who learned the most (and were able to demonstrate that learning on evaluations).
But a de-emphasis of grades is certainly a good thing, so that students do not get embroiled in arguing for one or two more marks on every piece of evaluation, focusing on marks instead of learning, and the like. One way I try to do this in my courses is to tell students at the start that no one will be left with a final mark just below the next grade boundary. Given the number of evaluations, all percentages out of 100, each evaluation would have to change by a large amount to make a difference on the final grade. My logic is that a final mark is a point estimation with some margin of error around it, and that error could include the fixed value of the grade boundary. So the range for a final mark of 69 (C+) could easily include 69.5, the cut-off for B. The same would not be true (or would be less true), for a final mark of 68. A contrarian in the department suggested I should do the same for marks just above the grade boundary, but that would produce anomalies (e.g., students with lower marks getting higher grades than students with higher marks). Also, not consistent with de-emphasis on grades. If quite notable, I will also pay some attention to improvement in marks, especially on the final test each term, a point discussed here earlier. I've never used it, but is there any evidence for more learning in Pass/Fail courses, which may be close to Chris's no grades? Take care Jim Jim Clark Professor & Chair of Psychology University of Winnipeg 204-786-9757 Room 4L41 (4th Floor Lockhart) www.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark<http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark> From: Christopher Green [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2016 8:25 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] Why grades undermine learning Here's an interesting column from today's "Inside Higher Ed" about how the relentless emphasis on grades undermines the learning process. It is close to something that I have been saying for years, though most people think of grading as so inherent to schooling that they are unable to understand me, and often respond by listing the putative motivational advantages of grades. (I go one step further, arguing that grades should be eliminated, in order to focus student on their learning itself, rather than on the putative measurement of their learning. My favourite snippet: "Yet while these students think they're keeping their eyes on the ball, they are actually just staring at the scoreboard." http://tinyurl.com/hosc6mu Chris ..... Christopher D Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 43.773895°, -79.503670° [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> http://www.yorku.ca/christo ....................................... --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13251.645f86b5cec4da0a56ffea7a891720c9&n=T&l=tips&o=49208 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-49208-13251.645f86b5cec4da0a56ffea7a89172...@fsulist.frostburg.edu<mailto:leave-49208-13251.645f86b5cec4da0a56ffea7a89172...@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=49209 or send a blank email to leave-49209-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
