Topic: Bang Your Head on Your Desk - the thread of teaching despair!

[secundem_artem]

Now I'm intrigued. Are these the categories?

a. Failing because the work handed in was unsatisfactory.

b. Failing because not enough work was handed in, but the work handed in was satisfactory.

c. Failing due to non-attendance.

b and c could overlap though.

I am not sure I can think of other ways.

I generally only see the regular F and then something like c. (Unofficial withdrawal.) I generally just give F grades for all fails, unless the student asks or I see some reason to use the other version of fail. No one really tells me what implications have for the student, so I assume there is none.

I just looked them up again.  I cannot imagine a faculty member making such fine distinctions between types of failures.  Were it me, I'd just slap an F on it and move on to the next student.

1.  Fail. Fails to demonstrate most or all of the basic requirements of the course.

2.  Fail. Demonstrates clear deficiencies in understanding and applying fundamental concepts; communicates information or ideas in ways  that are frequently incomplete or confusing and give little attention to the conventions of the discipline.

3.  Fail. Demonstrates superficial or partial or faulty understanding of the fundamental concepts of the field of study and limited ability to apply these concepts; presents undeveloped or inappropriate or unsupported arguments; communicates information or ideas with lack of clarity and inconsistent adherence to the conventions of the discipline.

[apl68]

Now I'm intrigued. Are these the categories?

a. Failing because the work handed in was unsatisfactory.

b. Failing because not enough work was handed in, but the work handed in was satisfactory.

c. Failing due to non-attendance.

b and c could overlap though.

I am not sure I can think of other ways.

I generally only see the regular F and then something like c. (Unofficial withdrawal.) I generally just give F grades for all fails, unless the student asks or I see some reason to use the other version of fail. No one really tells me what implications have for the student, so I assume there is none.

The final grade is always a straightforward weighted average of the individual course components, so the degrees of failing are awarded to individual assignments.

The lowest level is 'didn't hand it in' or 'plagiarized so badly it's a 0' or 'turned it in so late that late penalties ate all the credit you earned'.

One level up is for things like 'answered a different question' or 'wrote a couple of lines to restate the prompt and then gibberish'.

Above that we have 'answered the question--or at least read the question and tried to answer it, but was wildly wrong and bad.'

Then the highest level of fail is 'engaged with the question in good faith, but showed insufficient evidence of understanding for a passing grade.'


Because of the weighted average of the final grade, someone who has a few of the high-fails can still manage to pass the class with a reasonable exam or final essay score, but someone who has low-fails might not be able to recover with a good final essay or exam. I think this philosophy works pretty well, in the end. Even if an individual effort doesn't pass muster, we want to reward it in some way at the end of term, and treated zero-assed gibberish the same as good-faith-but-half-assed not-quite-gibberish seems unfair.

"Wrote a couple of lines to restate the prompt and then gibberish" sounds familiar.

[Morden]

It sounds depressingly like an invitation to grade grub and/or appeal. "I was REALLY close to passing!!!!! Can't you just bump me up?????"

The place I did my PhD used to be on a 9 point scale; 1-4 were failing grades. The coordinator of graduate students told all TAs not to use 4 when grading. Wise man.

[the_geneticist]

Maybe they're worried it's the grade after "f"...

M.

I'm just glad that anything below a D- is an F.  My last job has F+ as a possible grade.  Why??  It's still failing.  Does the plus sign make students feel slightly better?

It sounds depressingly like an invitation to grade grub and/or appeal. "I was REALLY close to passing!!!!! Can't you just bump me up?????"

Ironically, the most requested grade adjustment is from a C- to Failing (or to "bump them up to a B").
Why?  Because we only allow students to re-take a class they have failed.
A grade of C- and higher is passing.
The panicked "But I'm a premed!  This C will RUIN MY LIFE!" students would rather repeat a class (and possibly get behind on their progress to graduate) than have a low grade on their transcript.

[FishProf]

The panicked "But I'm a premed!  This C will RUIN MY LIFE!" students would rather repeat a class (and possibly get behind on their progress to graduate) than have a low grade on their transcript.

At FishProf U, the retake would change the GPA calculation, but the original grade remains on the transcript.  Is that not usually the case?

[the_geneticist]

The panicked "But I'm a premed!  This C will RUIN MY LIFE!" students would rather repeat a class (and possibly get behind on their progress to graduate) than have a low grade on their transcript.

At FishProf U, the retake would change the GPA calculation, but the original grade remains on the transcript.  Is that not usually the case?

It would stay on their transcript here too.  But they don't necessarily know (or believe) that's the case.

[PScientist]

At FishProf U, the retake would change the GPA calculation, but the original grade remains on the transcript.  Is that not usually the case?

At our place, the original grade is removed from the official transcript.  The fact that the course had been taken in a previous term is there, but with a grade of 'R' for "repeat."

[FishProf]

I expect that is interpreted as a Fail in med school and similar applications.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

How in the bloody hell can you be in a Physics course and NOT know how to take log of a number?

[mamselle]

Why, you just take an axe out in the forest and find a tree, and....

You mean, there's some other kind of log?

M.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Why, you just take an axe out in the forest and find a tree, and....

You mean, there's some other kind of log?

M.

Lol. :)

I know that logarithms aren't utilized much in daily life, but still... Banging my head over here!

[mamselle]

I've actually still got my dad's slide rule.

Tried using it for a math exam once but I must not have gotten the hang of it completely.

I did all the problems both ways, and used the ones I got by hand, just to be safe.

Good thing. My slide-rule answers were 'way off....

M.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

I've actually still got my dad's slide rule.

Tried using it for a math exam once but I must not have gotten the hang of it completely.

I did all the problems both ways, and used the ones I got by hand, just to be safe.

Good thing. My slide-rule answers were 'way off....

M.

Very cool. I've never had a slide rule, but I thought about getting one just for fun.

[dismalist]

I've actually still got my dad's slide rule.

Tried using it for a math exam once but I must not have gotten the hang of it completely.

I did all the problems both ways, and used the ones I got by hand, just to be safe.

Good thing. My slide-rule answers were 'way off....

M.

Very cool. I've never had a slide rule, but I thought about getting one just for fun.

A slide rule works even when the battery runs out! :-)

[mamselle]

Yes, as long as you know how to use it correctly...!

M.