Hi all & especially Christine,
Not surprisingly, this issue came up on the list a couple years ago.
(Wish I could find the exchange from then). But here's a short version
of what I said:
Legitimate absences (medical, athletic, tragic, emergency excuses) are
always going to be an issue. I solved it years ago by giving 6 RATs
and dropping the lowest iRAT and the lowest tRAT. It takes the
pressure off everyone in several ways. Obviously then, I build my
total semester points based on 5 RATs from the beginning.
(Re: Dean Parmelee's 4/20/10 comment - if you had 5 or fewer no shows
after 1600 students (times X number of RATs!), your Wright State
students are amazing. I've personally had over 1000 students through
my TBL courses and legitimate absences come up almost every semester.)
Related -
- if you aren't present in class to contribute to the tRAT, you
can't get the points
- I always give RATs at the beginning of class, and inevitably some
students walk in late. My rule is: you must do the iRAT first. When
the tRAT starts, you must turn in your iRAT regardless of whether you
are finished. If teams have already started the tRAT, an arriving
student can take the iRAT out in the hall, but will have to miss the
tRAT. "Readiness Assessment" starts at the individual level, then the
team level.
Andy
On Apr 20, 2010, at 1:06 AM, Christine Kuramoto wrote:
> Dear Friends,
>
> I have a question about absent team members. In the past I've
> always given students the tRAT score from their team when they
> missed a RAT day and a 0 for the iRAT. I'm teaching the same 100
> students in their second round of TBL and notice the same guys tend
> to skip class as the last time. My students had a tendency to be
> quite lenient on their peer evaluations, so the skippers got the
> team points and still got pretty good peer evaluations last year
> (with a few brave members commenting "you should come to class more"
> but still not lowering their scores much).
>
> I'm beginning to wonder if I should step in and say that absent
> students won't get the team score for the tRAT. The tRATs are what
> saved a few of them from failing last year. Am I teaching them that
> it's OK to be lazy and let your team take responsibility for it? Or
> should I be looking at the bigger picture that says, "See team! You
> have the power to let them sink or save them. It's up to you."--
> which is then teaching them the responsibility of being part of a
> team and what the real world is like.
>
> Hmmmmm. . .
>
> Please let me know what you think.
>
> Thanks!
> Christine
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