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Re: grades, pass/fail etc.



I'm in the pass/fail/ungraded doesn't work except for very good,
self-motivated students camp. A recent incident reinforces the points Tina
made. I give weekly homework assignments due on Thursdays. Tuesdays
through Thursdays produce heavy traffic in my office for help. Last week I
was late getting the assignment posted so on Monday I declared that the
assignment would not be collected until the following week--but that
additional problems would be assigned. The first students that I saw in my
office for help appeared this Monday--a week after the DUE DATE for the
assignment had been delayed. Clearly students took the delay as an excuse
NOT to work the problems during their normal Tuesday-Thursday time frame,
but rather to delay any work until the following week. Such behavior should
be expected!

Rick

*********************************************************
Richard W. Tarara
Professor of Physics
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, Indiana
rtarara@saintmarys.edu
********************************************************
Free Physics Educational Software (Win & Mac)
www.saintmarys.edu/~rtarara/software.html
NEW: Mac versions of Lab Simulations
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Edmiston, Mike" <edmiston@BLUFFTON.EDU>
To: <PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, October 01, 2002 8:40 AM
Subject: Re: grades, pass/fail etc.


Maybe I am not keeping accurate track of who is promoting which idea...
but if I am, then I am confused.

I thought this started out as a discussion about whether students would
have enough motivation in pass/fail courses (or even no-grade courses)
to get enough work done to learn the material. Then I mentioned that I
was having trouble getting students to work in a course that was
advertised as graded via midterm, final, lab reports... and now I am
hearing that just a midterm and final are not enough... that these are
insufficient for garnering sufficient student time since each course is
in competition with other courses and other demands for student time.

It seems to me that a midterm, final, and lab reports constitute a whole
lot more graded work and therefore a whole lot more grade motivation
than a no-grade course, and I also think more than a pass/fail course;
depending on the criteria for "pass."

Am I indeed hearing inconsistent opinions from the same people, or are
we hearing two different camps here? I understand if one group is
saying we need grades and lot's of graded work to keep students
motivated and to compete for students' time. I don't understand if the
people saying that are the same people think pass/fail or non-graded
courses work.

Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D.
Professor of Chemistry and Physics
Bluffton College
Bluffton, OH 45817
(419)-358-3270
edmiston@bluffton.edu

This posting is the position of the writer, not that of SUNY-BSC, NAU or
the AAPT.

This posting is the position of the writer, not that of SUNY-BSC, NAU or the AAPT.