I completely agree with you here! How we grade, why we grade, and the affectual nature it has on the student are things we rarely consider. I do similar things in my course, encouraging teamwork and time management as keys to retaining the knowledge necessary to do well in the course. They always seem bored, but I try my hardest to have fun with the gloomy forecast of our economic climate. Hey kids at least you are still alive and can go buy your food rather than scavenge. Yeah, I try, but why should I? And why should they? Great post!

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I completely agree with you here! How we grade, why we grade, and the affectual nature it has on the student are things we rarely consider. I do similar things in my course, encouraging teamwork and time management as keys to retaining the knowledge necessary to do well in the course. They always seem bored, but I try my hardest to have fun with the gloomy forecast of our economic climate. Hey kids at least you are still alive and can go buy your food rather than scavenge. Yeah, I try, but why should I? And why should they? Great post!

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Thanks for this post! I was surprised as well when I ready about “gradeless” programs. How in the world can students be evaluated? In some ways, it still does not make sense. For example, I would not want to go to a doctor who barely “passed” all of his/her/their classes … but how would anyone know this if courses were just pass/fail. On the other hand, the majority of jobs (once you have a graduate degree at least), do not appear to have nearly as much interest in GPAs. They are interested in our experiences, interviews, and recommendations. That should tell us something.

You bring up some good points Tyler. Assessment is not going away, I don’t think and we do need to find better ways…not just for assessing but also facilitating learning. I really like your point about figuring out how to facilitate critical thinking because professional like outside the academic setting requires critical thinking and problem solving in innovative, creative ways instead of checking the back of the book.

When I got a “B” in a one credit lab my first semester of college, I thought my life was over. I thought I could never follow the dreams I had for myself. My mom, however, was ecstatic. I distinctly remember her saying “well, no after 6 years of all As, you can breathe!” At first I did not understand. In fact, it took me a long time to understand. But, now, as a graduate student, I get it. She was just happy that some of the pressure was off my back. I still strive to get As in all of my classes and to do as best as I can at the things I do; however, my grades, even some of my feedback, do not define me anymore. It is my hope that others can learn this lesson a lot faster than I could!

You bring up a good point about pressure. We will read some about how different kinds of pressure can be debilitating for some students when we read Claude Steele. However, due to the fact that grades are so ingrained in our educational system how do you think we can make the transition from what it is now to what you suggest in your post?!

Interesting — and true! I have known students who spent more time figuring out how to cheat the system than they would have needed to spend studying to get a decent grade! People are so consumed by getting the grade that they miss the point of school — to learn! The point isn’t to prove to peers or even your teachers how smart you are — it is to prove to yourself what you can do when you put your mind to it!

Thank you for your post and great questions Sarah. One thing that is clear is that if you like any ideas we are discussing in this class then you are the one who will be bringing it to people who may be in your department, hire you as a new professor etc. That means that people like us will lead by example and that will not be easy. And I know from personal experience. When I took this class and tried to incorporate some of things we were learning to my teaching internships, I met with a lot of resistance. I even sent my entire peer reviewed syllabus to professor for feedback….and NEVER heard back. I don’t mean to sound discouraging, I only mean to say that we have to find ways to convince people that this works. The easiest way to do it is to show how to by carrying it out yourself.

Pink’s quote (about a mismatch) reminds me of the mismatch between higher education and industry. Many students that are graduating do not have the skills required to succeed in the workforce (King, 2015). “Industry and academic leaders revealed that the very skills needed for workforce success are the same skills graduating students lack — such as analysis and problem solving, collaboration and teamwork, business-context communication, and flexibility, agility, and adaptability. Underscoring this point, 71% of corporate recruiters indicated that finding applicants with sufficient practical experience is their greatest challenge when recruiting from higher education institutions” (King, 2015). This mismatch can be addressed by higher education collaborating with industry (King, 2015). “In fact, 57% of industry and academic leaders agree that collaboration is necessary to effectively deliver higher education to students, while 56% believe collaboration is necessary during curriculum development” (King, 2015).

King, M.D. (2015, July 17). Why Higher Ed and Business Need to Work Together. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2015/07/why-higher-ed-and-business-need-to-work-together

I agree ~ the problem is not with the confidence of the “A” students. It is with (1) the lack of confidence exhibited in many of the below-A students and (2) the overconfidence of some of the “A” students exhibit in thinking that because they got a good grade, that means they really understand the material. That is not to say, however, that some of the A students do not actually understand the material and won’t be able to apply it outside of the classroom, or that below A students don’t understand the material despite their lower grades. I guess that is the point — how well do grades actually represent our knowledge?

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