There must be something in the air this semester. For the first time in
a while I was a little concerned about the appearance of grade inflation
because it looked like everyone was going to get an A. For a little bit
of context, this was a Human Growth and Development course. Over 90% of
the students were pre-nursing or allied health majors. More than 60% of
the class was over 30 years old. There were only 20 students and until
the last two weeks only 3 students had an absence. So you had dedicated,
older than average, motivated students. In a small class (even by
community college standards).
Still I decided to look at how the grade weights washed out. The iRAT's
had the lowest average (73%) and accounted for 5% of their grade. The
T-RAT's had 94% average and accounted for 19% of their grade. The rest
of the items spread out accounting for between 5 and 14% of the final
grade. When I looked at the grouping I felt ok about the the final
results. Homework accounted for 24% of the grade (with a 95% average).
Teamwork accounted for 50% of their grade with a a 93.5% average and,
individual assessment accounted for 19% of their grade with an 81 %
average. There is also a professor rating representing 7% of their grade
with an 83% average.
Incidentally, the top half would have had A's without the professor
rating (which is based on attendance, homework, iRATs, mid-term grade
and class contribution). The lower half would have had B's. As it is 10%
got B's.
Edward Bell wrote:
> -->
> TBL Users:
> We (Drake U. Pharmacy) began using TBL last year in one of our major
> courses (Therapeutics, a 3-semester course, 110 students) - this year
> is our 2nd year. Grades this Spring semester were quite high - 91%
> average (85 A final course grades). This spring semester included 4
> exams (70% of course grade), 9 IRATs (10% of course grade), 9 GRATs
> (15% of course grade), and 2 peer evaluations (5% of course grade).
> Many students received an A or B that actually had exam and IRAT
> averages each less than the final grade (ie, exam and IRAT av. 75% but
> B grade or even 77% each av. and A final grade) - the high GRAT and
> peer evals pushed up final averages, perhaps too much. * My questions:
> how much should group work/peer evals factor into final grades, and
> have others had a similar experience (ie, where individual, group, and
> final course grades do not seem to correlate)?*
> Many Thanks
> Ed Bell
> --
>
> Edward A. Bell, PharmD, BCPS
> Professor of Clinical Sciences
> Drake University College of Pharmacy
> Des Moines, IA
> 515-271-1841
--
Herb Coleman,Ph.D
Dir. Instructional Computing and Technology
Adjunct Professor of Psychology
Austin Community College
Highland Business Center
5930 Middle Fiskville Rd.
Austin, TX 78752
[log in to unmask]
512-223-7746
*************************************************
“I, and every other professor on this campus, are
here to help you to find, take back, and keep your
righteous mind.”
---Professor Melvin Tolson
from the motion picture "The Great Debaters"
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