“Will this be on the test?” If that question immediately makes your heart race, muscles tense, or your face do an unflattering cringe type of
Rubrics are a valuable tool that supports student growth and facilitates instructor grading and feedback (Suskie, 2018). As instructors, we see this value; unfortunately, many
I read Susan Blum’s Ungrading as a first-year graduate student and was immediately smitten. At the same time, COVID-19 forced many seasoned instructors to grapple
How often does anyone write about being blessed by a policy seemingly rooted in chaos theory? If you were looking, here it is. The academic
Before discussing grading, let me return to assignments and a key point. My students are frequently uncertain about how to write an introduction and a
I would like to begin with one of the age-old dilemmas facing instructors. We all probably concur that teamwork is a key skill needed in
Among the trickiest decisions teachers make is whether to round up the final grade for a student who is just a few points shy of a passing score.
Although some students need a “second lap” to master academic skills needed for later coursework, repeating courses makes it harder for students to progress toward a degree. Time is money (literally, in higher education), and when students are asked to spend more of both on a class they already took, they may get discouraged or drop out. This is a consequence we need to take seriously, as nearly half of students do not complete a bachelor’s degree in four years.
It’s good to regularly review the advantages and disadvantages of the most commonly used test questions and the test banks that now frequently provide them.
“I don’t believe in giving students rubrics,” a faculty member told me recently. “They’re another example of something that waters down education.” I was telling
Optimism is generally a good thing, but it can sometimes interfere with learning. Some students are overly optimistic about their learning progress and anticipated course grades, with weaker students being more likely to overestimate how well they are doing in the course. This can hinder their academic success. There’s no reason to adjust their behavior (say, by studying more) if they believe they are already doing well.
