Skip to main content

Home/ CIRTL Network STEM Teaching MOOC/ Can strategic learning be mitigated by eliminating course grades?
cmtheusch

Can strategic learning be mitigated by eliminating course grades? - 6 views

affective domain

started by cmtheusch on 14 Oct 14
  • cmtheusch
    #1 cmtheusch on 14 Oct 14
     
    I have heard scattered stories of some secondary education institutions doing away with traditional letter grades in order to reduce a factor of that "strategic" learning phenomenon that was discussed this week. I know first-hand that this can help, but is this really a great thing to do?

    When I was an undergrad, I took a risk and signed up for a course "Spectral Analysis in Organic Chemistry." I had done really well in Organic Chemistry and really enjoyed learning how to read spectra from NMR, IR, and mass spec experiments. A few weeks into this advanced spectral class, I realized I had gone in way over my head, and as a knee-jerk reaction to this, I approached the instructor with course drop forms. He told me he was disappointed that I wanted to drop, since I was the only bio-interested students in the course and one of only two women. He further said that all students int he class were guaranteed at B grade. That was all the motivation I needed to stay in the class. It was very difficult for me, but I got a lot out of the in-class discussions and working through the assignments to the best of my (albeit awful) abilities. I don't regret sticking with that class, and it was even fun at times.

    This is just a little example of my own personal background, but it virtually eliminated that strategic learning push that I had been feeling. Now, I was learning for fun and making whatever connections I could between the subject matter and my studies in many other subjects.

    However, is eliminating letter grades a good thing? Does it do away with a vital component of that feedback an instructor gives his/her student?
  • sherrigraves
    #2 sherrigraves on 15 Oct 14
     
    Three comments:
    1) Being able to take a class pass/fail is an existing way to achieve this to some degree
    2) Eliminating, or guaranteeing, a final letter grade of a B in a graduate class means many would still aim for an A in which case the grade incentive isn't gone. In addition, even if the final course grade has a guaranteed minimum, that does not stop the professor from giving interim grades and feedback that show true performance level. In your case, it didn't seem to interfere with your ability to accurately gauge your level.
    3) Effectiveness may depend on level - for graduate level courses or specialty courses in a major, student interest and curiosity would still provide motivation for hard work and effort. In lower level and non-major classes, it might not work well for all students.
  • msjumpin
    #3 msjumpin on 15 Oct 14
     
    As someone who went to an undergraduate institution that didn't have grades, I say enthusiastically YES! Having qualitative evaluations of my work was incredibly supportive of my growth as a student and scholar as well as providing individualization to my studies (whenever the professor noted my strengths and weaknesses) and a platform for ownership of my own learning (when I had to identify my own strengths and weaknesses). However, in a world where many of our students are pre-professionals and the gatekeepers use GPA and content recall exams to determine entrance into their chosen fields it is very hard to bring this spirit into the world of a millennial student who is very aware of the fact that they are constantly judged on the grades and scores rather than the intrinsic growth. I struggle with this issue all the time.
  • hpassmo
    #4 hpassmo on 16 Oct 14
     
    I attended a (primary and secondary) school with no grades and it was great! Since the classes were small teachers evaluated each student on their progress at the end of each term. At the end of the year your adviser synthesized these evaluations into a year-end evaluation. While I full embraced and benefited from this system, I don't see how an evaluation system could work at larger scales or where students haven't fully accepted the institution's philosophy of education.

    By the end of my first semester of college I discovered an (unfortunate?) consequence of growing up with no grades: I had no idea how to aim for a specific letter grade. In many Biology courses that I enjoyed and thought I had "done well in" my final letter grades were lower than I expected. Eventually my grades came up as I learned to focus on them (and this thing called GPA) but I don't think I learned more than I had when I was just working because I wanted to learn.

To Top

Start a New Topic » « Back to the CIRTL Network STEM Teaching MOOC group