Saturday, April 15, 2017

Learning Matters

“Is it still possible for me to get a passing grade?” or “What do I have to do to get and A in your class?”; you, like me, have probably heard these questions more than once in the last few weeks. I post all my grades on Moodle so there is really no need to ask me grade questions, but there are always a handful of students eager to enter the hypothetical “what if I hand in all late assignments, get a 95% on the final, and complete all extra credit”. I must admit that I indulge these students. I invite them to sit down with me in my office and we go over every detail of their grade, enter reasonable and unreasonable estimates for the next few assignments and tests, and talk about what has to happen for them to earn that wished-for grade, whether it is a C or an A. Sometimes I try to talk about the bigger picture, especially if the student is one of my advisees. We talk about career aspirations, the realistic (im)possibility of being accepted to medical school with C’s in all biology and chemistry classes, repeating classes, taking and extra semester or year to finish college, and occasionally the conversation touches on learning. I may ask something like “do you feel like you have gained mastery of the material in the class?”, or “do you think you could use the knowledge in a different class or to solve a real-world problem?”, but those times are rare. What can we do to take the focus off grades and move it onto knowledge generation and learning? In her blog post Five Ways to Get Students Thinking about Learning, Not Grades, Maryellen Weimer lists a handful of thoughts on the topic. I particularly like the last point where she gives an example of an eye-opening question she once asked a student:

“5. Change the conversation – Talk “learning” with students. I once had this exchange with a student. ‘So, you’re taking political science? Tell me what you’re learning in the course.’ To which the student replied, ‘Nothing.’ ‘Really?’ I asked incredulously. ‘And what’s going to happen when you’re interviewing for the job of your dreams and the interviewer says, ‘Gee, I see you took a poly sci course. That’s such an interesting field. Tell me what you learned in that course?’’ I loved how the student’s eyes widened.”


She also admits that we do need grades as performance measures - she simply wishes to nudge the conversation to focus more on learning. What is your take on grades versus learning? More importantly, what do you do to help students think about their own learning processes?

3 comments:

  1. That is why accreditation agencies, such as Middle States, are not interested in grades but learning outcomes. If we did learning outcomes assessment very well, we would solve part of this problem about "grades-versus-learning."

    I think the solution is to make learning, and not just teaching, a condition for awarding grades. I tell my students that if they can prove that they have (a) attended classes regularly and on time, without using cellphones to surf the internet or check e-mail or engage in social media while I am teaching, and (b) read the textbook, and (c) learned more than 80% of what has been taught, I will give them an "A."

    I think it is a sociological as well as a psychological problem. Individual professors cannot do much about it, unless other professors reinforce the value of learning (over grades) and the university establishes such a culture on its campuses. We do not even put the problem on the agenda of our faculty meetings, let alone discuss it. Thus, I think faculty and administration are almost as guilty as students.

    I understand that the reason that some universities and colleges -- such as MIT -- do not have Latin honors, is that they think that such honor awards reward and focus too much on grades more than learning. I tried to get faculty to revisit the issue at the next faculty meeting. Instead, the e-mail discussion turned into slippery-slope arguments about why we should not consider anything but grades for Latin honors, not even difficulty levels or issues of fairness. That tells you something; doesn't it?

    Safro Kwame

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  2. Safro, I obviously agree with you about learning being so much more important than grades. However, if we did grades right, shouldn't they reflect how much/well students learned in our classes? And, if grades reflect what students learn, Latin honors make sense... It is just so difficult to measure the learning part!
    My students are also required to stay engaged during class - I try to accomplish this through in-class assignments that include discussion, note-taking, problem solving etc. Most students seem to engage, some don't, and a bunch are too worried about "getting it right" to focus on learning. I measure whether or not they read the text book through reading quizzes - but they could just copy the quiz answers from somebody else (although Moodle helps making copying difficult by randomizing questions and answers in quizzes).
    How do you measure what students learn in your class?
    I would love to be able to have faculty discussions like this that don't derail. Faculty meetings are too busy with important action item discussion. What if we had bi-monthly faculty "chat and chews" in the faculty dining room with a specific topic and a discussion leader that kept us on topic? Maybe CETL could negotiate a deal with the dining services...

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    Replies
    1. Anna, you are right "Faculty meetings are too busy with important action item discussion;" but sometimes the agenda is not packed and, so, we can have brief "faculty discussions like this that don't derail" and continue by e-mail. It is the quality of the discussion that matters; not the length. Isn't it?

      You ask, "What if we had bi-monthly faculty 'chat and chews' in the faculty dining room with a specific topic and a discussion leader that kept us on topic?" It is a good question or suggestion. However, it is easier to do it at a faculty meeting; because faculty meetings are required. My experience is, if it is optional like this Teaching Matters at LU forum, there is less participation. It is not always true that "if you build it, they will come." Is it?

      Safro Kwame

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