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" *************************************************