Ron,

I don't think your emphasis is at all misguided although, as Jim Sibley suggested, you might want to pull the total percentage of the RATs down a bit.

But your real response is to perhaps make a clearer statement to students at the beginning of the course, that you have multiple learning goals for the course. I don't know what yours are, but they might be something like:
"My hope is that by the end of this course, students will...

Understand and remember the key concepts, terms, etc. (Foundational Knowledge)
Be able to apply this knowledge to authentic problems (Application)
Relate knowledge from this course with what they are learning or have learned in other courses (Integration)
Be able to work effectively as a member of a professional team (Human Dimension/Other)
Be able to identify the significance of the subject of this course in the context of their development as professionals in the field of Occupational Therapy (Valuing), and
Develop a plan for learning more about this subject in the near future (How to continue learning)

What you then want to do is develop learning activities and assessment activities related to each of these goals. Your grading system should then reflect the assessment activities, with an appropriate distribution of points or weights.

The goal of all this is both to help students see the "big picture" of the course and, based on that, to understand why you put the emphasis where you do in terms of the course points.

Dee Fink

On Fri, Jun 29, 2012 at 9:26 AM, Carson, Ron <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

During a recent mid-term review, a student expressed the following opinion: “Students are concerned about grades while teachers are concerned about mastery of material. If this is true, why place so much emphasis on iRATS, which do not measure mastery?”

My course is setup so that 37% of the grade is derived from iRATS, 5% from tRATS and remaining percentage from various topics, tests and assignments.

I specifically set up the course with an increased emphasis on iRATS because I want students to study the book, which is of exceptional quality. However, I now wonder if my original philosophy is misguided.

I appreciate feedback.

Thanks,

Ron Carson

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Ron Carson MHS, OT

Assistant Professor
Occupational Therapy Department
Florida Hospital College of Health Sciences
671 Winyah Drive
Orlando, FL 32803

407.303.9182

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L. Dee Fink
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Email: [log in to unmask]
Websites:
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**Former President of the POD Network in Higher Education (2004-2005)
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