Feedback -- How? How much?
Feedback is the reason we have not remained moderately complex organic molecules
in a primordial soup, and feedback plus spirited enterprise is a hard combination to
beat as a strategy to increase your abilities. You will have a lot of feedback in this
course, in the form of extensive comments on exams, problem sets,
-- anything that you hand in. The spirited enterprise is up to you.
That's fine,... but what about grades?
Grading is something different from feedback. It is an attempt to shoehorn into very
few categories what is a diverse set of experiences. Individually tailored feedback can
address the diversity. Grading cannot.
But there is a much bigger issue. The objectives
of this course are focused on helping you gain intellectual independence and become
producers rather than consumers of knowledge and ideas. You presumably accept these objectives,
or there's little sense in your participating in the course. But grades, particularly as commonly
implemented at VCU, work against these objectives. Strongly tied to independence is the notion
of intrinsic motivation, the idea of doing something because you think it's right, as opposed
to extrinsic motivation, doing something because it is presented to you as a desirable choice.
An emphasis on A-F grading has been reported to promote viewing grades as the goal rather than
learning or , compared to P/F grading [reference 1], and grading has been shown to
undermine the development of intrinsic motivation, which is fostered by nongraded feedback
[reference 2-5]. Ironically, though both students and professors
give lip service to the notion that learning, not grades, is the higher goal of education, each
blames the other for forcing their attention towards grades at the expense of learning [reference 6].
If the ill effects of grades were limited to the four years of college, it would be bad enough,
but:
Students are released from grading pressures upon graduation, but the
effects of reactance to learning may last a lifetime. The cost of using
grades to induce learning may result in college graduates who seldom
learn intellectually challenging material just for the fun of it, and "learning
not to learn" may become the most long-lasting lesson of a college
education.
- Howard Pollio and Hall Beck [reference 5]
If I take seriously the objectives of this course, I should emphasize constructive feedback
and de-emphasize grades. I will therefore provide voluminous feedback but
refrain from assigning any grade
until forced to do so by the powers that be, i.e. at the end of the semester. An added
benefit of this practice is that I will have more time to devote to constructive
feedback and developing resources for the class (believe me, grading takes time!).
However, I will notify you the
moment the thought crosses my mind that you are heading for an ultimate
failing grade. If you are not notified, then you have never handed
anything in to me that would cause such concern.
Then in the end there will be grades... How?
Yes, at the end of the semester, the beast must be fed.
It is against my nature to do any task, even the most
trivial, in an arbitrary fashion, so whatever grade emerges will be based
somehow on my perceptions gathered over the semester, particularly
from my observation of what you became able to do by the end with
respect to the course objectives.
I will consider two routes to a passing grade:
- Significant progress towards scientific independence
From the material I get from you (as described below), I
judge that you have made good progress towards defining and
addressing problems within the realm of molecular biology
- Movement towards scientific independence, coupled with significant effort towards that goal
I detect slow but definite progress in defining and addressing problems within the realm of
molecular biology, and I discern through a pattern of sustained effort you have shown
that there is good reason to expect future gains.
Let's consider the various material that could go into an assessment at the end of the semester:
Problem Sets and Study Questions? |
I may use these to assess significant effort.
Beyond this, your work will certainly be looked at, and you'll get lots of comments...
but no grades.
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Questionnaires? |
The questionnaires are very valuable to me,
and maybe to you, but I can't imagine that they would be very
helpful in judging progress.
|
Exams? |
These will surely be informative at the end of the semester,
and I'll look seriously at them. During the semester, I'll give you considerable
feedback through the exams but no grades.
|
Research Proposal |
The research project -- in its written and oral forms
-- will undoubtedly weigh a lot. After all, a major aim of
the course is to help you learn to conceive of a legitimate research question
and how to address it.
|
Attendance? |
No. Slavery was abolished more than 100 years ago.
Come and go as you think best.
...unless you have a responsibility to others. You will have such responsibilities when presenting your research proposal to the final panel (your responsibility is to those faculty members who have traveled to hear your presentation) or when listening to the presentation of a colleague to whom you will provide a critique (your responsibility is to your colleague). On those days, attendance is required by common courtesy.
|
Class Discussion? |
No. Discussion is important to make this course work, but it isn't graded. |
How will I know where I stand in class?
Considering the detailed feedback you will get for every exam and whatever else you hand in,
you should gain a pretty good idea of my views. Your time,
like mine, would be better spent worrying less about where you stand on an arbitrary five-level
scale and worrying more about how to get to where you would like to stand in your life.
Why so... different from everyone else?
It's possible, perhaps likely, that most classes you've taken here and elsewhere have not embraced the same philosophy concerning grading, but what I have described is actually a viewpoint that many hold besides myself (see references at the end of this page).
Academics can believe what they want. The outside world believes in grades. Certainly medical schools...
I know that's what many of you believe, and it is indeed true that medical school applicants need a decent GPA to get through the door. Medical schools have so many applicants relative to the number of positions (and I suspect relative to the number of people looking at the applications)
that they have little choice but to reduce you to a number, at least for the first pass. Ditto for dental school and
perhaps some other professional schools.
...but if you're interested in research, this is not the case. The number taking that route is small enough that
real people can look at your application and judge as best they can your real talents. From my own experience and the
experience of students I have known, I can tell you that research experience and scientific maturity count for much
more than grades.
Some of your colleagues left BNFO 301 (with a similar grading system) with different views, and some did not. You can read their opinions here.
In the end, however, you're going to have to decide for yourself why you (or someone) paid the thousands of dollars to go
to VCU. Was it to gain a number or to learn something important, whatever you judge that to be?
References
- Dahlgren LO, Fejes A, Abrandt-Dahlgren M, Trowald N (2009).
Grading systems, features of assessment and students' approaches to learning.
Teaching Higher Educ 14:185-194
- Butler R, Nisan M (1986). Effects of no feedback, task-related comments,
and grades on intrinsic motivation and performance.
J Educ Psychol 78:210-216.
- Kohn A (1994). Grading: The issue is not how but why.
Educational Leadership 52:38-41.
- Harlen W, Crick RD (2003). Testing and motivation for learning.
Assessment in Education 10:169-207.
- Pulfrey C, Buchs C, Butera F (2011). Why Grades Engender Performance-Avoidance Goals: The Mediating Role of Autonomous Motivation. J Educ Psychol 103:683-700.
- Pollio H, Beck H (2000). When the tail wags the dog:
Perceptions of learning and grade orientation in, and by,
contemporary college students and faculty.
J Higher Educ 71:84-102.
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