Low Stake and High Stake Assignments

[HigherEd7]

Would you consider online assignments as low stake assignments and in class assignments as high stake? I had a conversation with a couple of teachers, and they feel that students need to do well on the exams to pass the class, and they should not pass the class on assignments they can do outside of the classroom. What are your thoughts?

[jerseyjay]

I would say it depends on the course design, which reflects the professor's philosophy.

Of course, in an online course, all assignments are online.

I have taught courses where the exams were relatively low stakes (say 20 per cent each) vs. regular discussions.

I have taught the course in which the largest part of the grade comprised assignments done outside the classroom (for example, term papers and/or take-home exams).

In an introductory survey course I may have a series of in-class quizzes that are only worth 20 percent of the class grade in total, along with three in-class exams (20 per cent each) and a final exam (20 per cent). In a senior research course, I may have various in-class activities (20 per cent total) and the final paper (80 per cent). In a 300-level elective, I might have two exams at 35 per cent each and the term paper at 30 per cent. What is high-stakes and what is low-stakes really depends on what the purpose of the course is and who the students are.

[ciao_yall]

My classes has a lot of low-stakes weekly assignments that were designed to keep them caught up with the material and give them something to talk about in class.

The high-stakes tests were open-book, and papers/projects measured application and understanding rather than memorization.

Depending on the course, work done "outside the classroom" is the most important because that is when the student gets the chance to apply and integrate their learning. There is probably a higher risk of cheating on these assignments but a lot of that is how you structure the assignments.

[HigherEd7]

Thank you for the responses.

[mythbuster]

I have a requirement stated in my syllabus that low stakes online homework cannot bump a student to a passing grade unless they have a passing grade on at least one exam. This is because I know the answers to the online homework can be found via Google etc. and is worth 10% of the final grade. This policy only affects one or two students at most a semester.

[onthefringe]

I view "low stakes" assignments as those that have minimal impact on a student's grades. This generally means that they are either worth a very small percent of the final grade, graded on a less 'rigorous' basis, or both. Things where full credit is earned for a good faith effort or things that are worth less than maybe 2% of the final grade would be under my "low stakes" umbrella.

The drawbacks are a)they can amount to busywork for the most talented or well-prepared students and b) in my experience, being low stakes does not necessarily mean students won't still try to game the system. At my uni, something like 60% of reports to the academic misconduct system are related to assignments worth less than 5% of the final grade. Last year the only misconduct case I filed was a student using ChatGPT to write one paragraph reading responses that were each worth 0.5% of the final grade and assessed on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis with a very low bar for satisfactory.

[Sun_Worshiper]

I have some low stake assignments in my classes to buffer students' grades against the higher stake ones and also to keep them engaged day-to-day. I have these both in the classroom (e.g. short presentations on a current event) and online (discussion boards - which I'm probably going to stop using due to ChatGPT).
 

[apl68]

I have some low stake assignments in my classes to buffer students' grades against the higher stake ones and also to keep them engaged day-to-day. I have these both in the classroom (e.g. short presentations on a current event) and online (discussion boards - which I'm probably going to stop using due to ChatGPT).
 

I hadn't thought about it, but I suppose ChatGPT would be quite capable of generating effortless semi-coherent discussion board posts to make up a participation grade.  And could potentially contaminate an otherwise on-point discussion with ridiculous "hallucinations." 

[Parasaurolophus]

I have some low stake assignments in my classes to buffer students' grades against the higher stake ones and also to keep them engaged day-to-day. I have these both in the classroom (e.g. short presentations on a current event) and online (discussion boards - which I'm probably going to stop using due to ChatGPT).
 

I hadn't thought about it, but I suppose ChatGPT would be quite capable of generating effortless semi-coherent discussion board posts to make up a participation grade.  And could potentially contaminate an otherwise on-point discussion with ridiculous "hallucinations." 

I can confirm that they're using ChatGPT for these. I've been publicly calling them out on it (i.e. on the discussion board), however, and that seems to help. I'm half tempted to institute a Wall of Shame, except that I think that's probably pedagogically a pretty bad idea.

[Sun_Worshiper]

I have some low stake assignments in my classes to buffer students' grades against the higher stake ones and also to keep them engaged day-to-day. I have these both in the classroom (e.g. short presentations on a current event) and online (discussion boards - which I'm probably going to stop using due to ChatGPT).
 

I hadn't thought about it, but I suppose ChatGPT would be quite capable of generating effortless semi-coherent discussion board posts to make up a participation grade.  And could potentially contaminate an otherwise on-point discussion with ridiculous "hallucinations." 

Yup, I would imagine most students are using chatGPT in some form at this point. I've told them that they can use it (since it is impossible to police it effectively anyway), but also that they need to be aware of its weaknesses, such as the hallucinations.

[Caracal]

I have some low stake assignments in my classes to buffer students' grades against the higher stake ones and also to keep them engaged day-to-day. I have these both in the classroom (e.g. short presentations on a current event) and online (discussion boards - which I'm probably going to stop using due to ChatGPT).
 

I hadn't thought about it, but I suppose ChatGPT would be quite capable of generating effortless semi-coherent discussion board posts to make up a participation grade.  And could potentially contaminate an otherwise on-point discussion with ridiculous "hallucinations." 

I can confirm that they're using ChatGPT for these. I've been publicly calling them out on it (i.e. on the discussion board), however, and that seems to help. I'm half tempted to institute a Wall of Shame, except that I think that's probably pedagogically a pretty bad idea.

Sure, but you can also generate semi coherent responses to this sort of thing with quick google searches or  reading something a friend wrote. Weirdly, what I've noticed is that for the purposes of my classes, it doesn't really matter. When I don't have something students are supposed to do to show they've done the reading, very few students do it and we have terrible discussions in class. When I do have it, enough students usually do the reading that we can talk about it. I don't know what the percentage is-I'm sure it varies by the level of class-maybe 30-50 percent in intro level, 50-75 in upper level? I suspect that chatgpt isn't going to make much difference with this because it's already so easy to avoid actually doing the reading. It just serves to remind the students who are already inclined to do so to do it.

To answer the original question. These things are pretty low stakes-usually 5 percent of the grade.

[the_geneticist]

I use low-stakes assignments as a way to have students prepare for lab.  I ask them to draw a diagram of the main protocol for the day.  It's graded for being on time and looks like it has the important steps.

I'm tempted to add in a just-in-time reading reflection for my graduate class.  The students are TERRIBLE about not reading unless they are personally presenting that day.  It makes for really lousy discussions.

[Puget]

I'm tempted to add in a just-in-time reading reflection for my graduate class.  The students are TERRIBLE about not reading unless they are personally presenting that day.  It makes for really lousy discussions.

Do it! In my seminar I have a thought question about the reading to be answered in about a paragraph by 5 PM the evening before every class. It ensures that they mostly at least skim the readings, and lets me check their understanding so I know what to address during class. They can also ask questions there that I'll respond to. Without this I'm certain they mostly wouldn't read.