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Latest Embarrassing CHE Op-Ed: Make All Courses Pass/Fail

Started by spork, March 23, 2020, 08:17:44 AM

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mahagonny

Quote from: spork on March 28, 2020, 08:41:58 AM
Clemson has announced that instructors can exempt all students from final exams.

My university has extended the deadline for course withdrawal to May, as well as the deadline by which students have to decide whether to have their courses graded as P/F. Basically this means no student needs to fail a course this semester.

Same here. From my perspective as an adjunct whose bread on the table depends on student evaluations, in a department with some uncommunicative senior faculty and a rocky relationship between faculty union and admin, I don't mind. I think they taking us out of harm's way a bit. Not that I think they would do it for that reason. It's a university-wide decision.

Caracal

Quote from: mahagonny on March 28, 2020, 08:48:35 AM
Quote from: spork on March 28, 2020, 08:41:58 AM
Clemson has announced that instructors can exempt all students from final exams.

My university has extended the deadline for course withdrawal to May, as well as the deadline by which students have to decide whether to have their courses graded as P/F. Basically this means no student needs to fail a course this semester.

Same here. From my perspective as an adjunct whose bread on the table depends on student evaluations, in a department with some uncommunicative senior faculty and a rocky relationship between faculty union and admin, I don't mind. I think they taking us out of harm's way a bit. Not that I think they would do it for that reason. It's a university-wide decision.

Ditto. Really the parallel to giving students a pass/fail option for faculty is that we just shouldn't do student evals this semester. In the same way that students shouldn't be punished for dramatically changed classes and circumstances, it isn't really fair to judge faculty based on things out of our control. There are people who don't have young kids and who channel anxiety into work who find themselves with a lot of time and are putting that into teaching right now. That's great, of course, but some of us suddenly don't have daycare and have toddlers around all the time. Other people get distracted by stress and anxiety and are having a hard time focusing. Some people have classes that can be put online easily, others have classes that are really hard to do that with. Obviously like the students we still need to do our job and meet minimum standards, but it just isn't fair for faculty to be being compared in these circumstances.

Wahoo Redux

Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring
Your Winter-garment of Repentance fling:
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To flutter--and the Bird is on the Wing.

jerseyjay

At least one school I am aware of has said, explicitly, that faculty will not be evaluated on teaching this term. I am not entirely sure what this means, but it does seem obvious.

At my school, although nothing explicitly has been said, all of the regular announcements about teaching evaluations have ceased two weeks ago, whereas normally they would have intensified. Some of this might also be that the administrators who tended to occupy themselves with sending such emails might otherwise be occupied.

mamselle

Quote from: mamselle on March 27, 2020, 04:54:42 PM
I didn't see it above; has it already been mentioned that Harvard has gone to "Emergency Satisfactory" and "Emergency Unsatisfactory" grades for all classes?

That preserves context while releasing the pressure valve to something like humane.

M.

There are two articles on this (at least) in the Crimson:

1. The announcement:

    https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/3/28/harvard-coronavirus-universal-satisfactory-unsatisfactory-grading/

2. The push-back:

   https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/3/27/undergrads-react-grading-change/

M.
Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.

Reprove not a scorner, lest they hate thee: rebuke the wise, and they will love thee.

Give instruction to the wise, and they will be yet wiser: teach the just, and they will increase in learning.

marshwiggle

It takes so little to be above average.

dismalist

Quote from: marshwiggle on March 28, 2020, 04:32:16 PM
Quote from: mamselle on March 28, 2020, 02:23:58 PM
There are two articles on this (at least) in the Crimson:

1. The announcement:

    https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/3/28/harvard-coronavirus-universal-satisfactory-unsatisfactory-grading/

2. The push-back:

   https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/3/27/undergrads-react-grading-change/

M.

Interesting that all of the coflicting preferences use "fairness" as their rationale.

Indeed, and fairness nowadays means equal outcomes. There are very cheap ways of providing equal outcomes. :-(
That's not even wrong!
--Wolfgang Pauli

mythbuster

We have gone to an A, B, S, U. System. Students opt in. Faculty do not know who opts in. If gives incentive to at least try. Our drop deadline is now almost the last day of class instead of this coming Friday.

dismalist

Quote from: mythbuster on March 28, 2020, 05:04:04 PM
We have gone to an A, B, S, U. System. Students opt in. Faculty do not know who opts in. If gives incentive to at least try. Our drop deadline is now almost the last day of class instead of this coming Friday.

This is an excellent scheme: Anyone who thinks they can do a good job gets an A or a B, with a tad risk. Anyone who thinks they cannot do a good job opts for S/U [and of course get an S, and why not?]. Any employer or graduate program can check this if they think relevant.

I like very much, for incentives are preserved and information is broadcast.
That's not even wrong!
--Wolfgang Pauli

marshwiggle

Quote from: dismalist on March 28, 2020, 05:39:56 PM
Quote from: mythbuster on March 28, 2020, 05:04:04 PM
We have gone to an A, B, S, U. System. Students opt in. Faculty do not know who opts in. If gives incentive to at least try. Our drop deadline is now almost the last day of class instead of this coming Friday.

This is an excellent scheme: Anyone who thinks they can do a good job gets an A or a B, with a tad risk. Anyone who thinks they cannot do a good job opts for S/U [and of course get an S, and why not?]. Any employer or graduate program can check this if they think relevant.

I like very much, for incentives are preserved and information is broadcast.

That raises the question of whether there is any good reason to not make this permananent.
It takes so little to be above average.

Caracal

Quote from: dismalist on March 28, 2020, 05:39:56 PM
Quote from: mythbuster on March 28, 2020, 05:04:04 PM
We have gone to an A, B, S, U. System. Students opt in. Faculty do not know who opts in. If gives incentive to at least try. Our drop deadline is now almost the last day of class instead of this coming Friday.

This is an excellent scheme: Anyone who thinks they can do a good job gets an A or a B, with a tad risk. Anyone who thinks they cannot do a good job opts for S/U [and of course get an S, and why not?]. Any employer or graduate program can check this if they think relevant.

I like very much, for incentives are preserved and information is broadcast.

From the perspective of the person who would be deluged with emails from students who don't know how to assess their grade probabilities for themselves before the deadline and then get angry emails from students who chose to take a grade and then did badly on the paper/last exam/other thing and don't like their grade, I'm happy that my school is letting students choose after they see the grade.

mahagonny

Quote from: Caracal on March 29, 2020, 05:37:49 AM
Quote from: dismalist on March 28, 2020, 05:39:56 PM
Quote from: mythbuster on March 28, 2020, 05:04:04 PM
We have gone to an A, B, S, U. System. Students opt in. Faculty do not know who opts in. If gives incentive to at least try. Our drop deadline is now almost the last day of class instead of this coming Friday.

This is an excellent scheme: Anyone who thinks they can do a good job gets an A or a B, with a tad risk. Anyone who thinks they cannot do a good job opts for S/U [and of course get an S, and why not?]. Any employer or graduate program can check this if they think relevant.

I like very much, for incentives are preserved and information is broadcast.

From the perspective of the person who would be deluged with emails from students who don't know how to assess their grade probabilities for themselves before the deadline and then get angry emails from students who chose to take a grade and then did badly on the paper/last exam/other thing and don't like their grade, I'm happy that my school is letting students choose after they see the grade.

Reminds me the old television show 'Let's Make a Deal.' Do you want to hang on to your oak bedroom furniture set or go for what's behind door #2?

dismalist

Quote from: mahagonny on March 29, 2020, 08:07:21 AM
Quote from: Caracal on March 29, 2020, 05:37:49 AM
Quote from: dismalist on March 28, 2020, 05:39:56 PM
Quote from: mythbuster on March 28, 2020, 05:04:04 PM
We have gone to an A, B, S, U. System. Students opt in. Faculty do not know who opts in. If gives incentive to at least try. Our drop deadline is now almost the last day of class instead of this coming Friday.

This is an excellent scheme: Anyone who thinks they can do a good job gets an A or a B, with a tad risk. Anyone who thinks they cannot do a good job opts for S/U [and of course get an S, and why not?]. Any employer or graduate program can check this if they think relevant.

I like very much, for incentives are preserved and information is broadcast.

From the perspective of the person who would be deluged with emails from students who don't know how to assess their grade probabilities for themselves before the deadline and then get angry emails from students who chose to take a grade and then did badly on the paper/last exam/other thing and don't like their grade, I'm happy that my school is letting students choose after they see the grade.

Reminds me the old television show 'Let's Make a Deal.' Do you want to hang on to your oak bedroom furniture set or go for what's behind door #2?

Nothing at all wrong with making such a scheme permanent. And, the analogy is apt. :-)
That's not even wrong!
--Wolfgang Pauli

marshwiggle

Quote from: dismalist on March 29, 2020, 10:43:29 AM
Quote from: mahagonny on March 29, 2020, 08:07:21 AM
Quote from: Caracal on March 29, 2020, 05:37:49 AM
Quote from: dismalist on March 28, 2020, 05:39:56 PM
Quote from: mythbuster on March 28, 2020, 05:04:04 PM
We have gone to an A, B, S, U. System. Students opt in. Faculty do not know who opts in. If gives incentive to at least try. Our drop deadline is now almost the last day of class instead of this coming Friday.

This is an excellent scheme: Anyone who thinks they can do a good job gets an A or a B, with a tad risk. Anyone who thinks they cannot do a good job opts for S/U [and of course get an S, and why not?]. Any employer or graduate program can check this if they think relevant.

I like very much, for incentives are preserved and information is broadcast.

From the perspective of the person who would be deluged with emails from students who don't know how to assess their grade probabilities for themselves before the deadline and then get angry emails from students who chose to take a grade and then did badly on the paper/last exam/other thing and don't like their grade, I'm happy that my school is letting students choose after they see the grade.

Reminds me the old television show 'Let's Make a Deal.' Do you want to hang on to your oak bedroom furniture set or go for what's behind door #2?

Nothing at all wrong with making such a scheme permanent. And, the analogy is apt. :-)

So eventually all transcripts will only contain A's and S's. The only thing to distinguish students by will be the ratio.
It takes so little to be above average.

dismalist


"So eventually all transcripts will only contain A's and S's. The only thing to distinguish students by will be the ratio."

De facto, you may well be right. And that's like what we have today, just A's and B's. Because of various kinds of pressure, none of this may matter. We're definitely all in the top 10%!
That's not even wrong!
--Wolfgang Pauli