A New Perspective on Grading

1
A New Perspective on Grading

• Laurie Werner
• Associate Professor of Computer and Information
  Technology
• Miami University

2
Introduction

• Grading is a complex process
• Our grading methods communicate to our students
  what is important for them to learn from us
• We can use grades to motivate students to learn
  while they earn their grades
• We can improve the accuracy of evaluating student
  work in computing courses

3
Agenda

• Discuss the benefits of providing students with
  their grade as of today
• Discuss the advantages of using a cumulative
  points method of grading
• Brief view of how to produce a public grade book
• Present some ideas about grading/project
  evaluation methods in skills courses

4
Benefits of making grades readily available to
students

• Timely feedback for students
• Teaches students that everything counts
• Helps set high expectations of students
• Improves course management
• Improves accuracy of grades

5
Advantages of using an accumulated points model

• For the instructor
• For the student
• As a learning tool

6
Advantages for the Instructor

• Flexibility
• Number and pertinence of evaluation instruments
  can vary throughout the semester
• Short in-class activities can be assigned points
  when students attention wanes on a topic
• Simplified final grade calculation
• Students are less likely to ask are we doing
  anything important today on a non-test day
  because activities are worth points

7
Advantages for Students

• Good or poor performance in one area can offset
  performance in another area
• Poor performance early in the course is not
  devastatingly discouraging.
• No one evaluation carries too much weight
• Students can decide where to put their efforts

8
Learning tool

• Consistent performance pays off for the student
• Teach what we are grading
• Use our experience to modify engaging activities
  throughout the semester
• Grading the activities communicates the
  importance of the topic to the students
• Grading can give students a sense of control

9
The Public Grade Book

• Csa283GradesForPosting.xls
• Tips
• Generate an ID number
• Excel formula int((rand()9000)1000)
• Volatile
• Copy using Paste Special Values
• Possible points row
• Add a blank column to maintain sum formula
• Post on a network drive that allows students to
  download or copy

10
Next Step Evaluating Information Technology
Skills

• Accurate Assessment is important to our students
• Evaluating problem solving skills is a challenge
• Methods have been proposed for sciences, but may
  not fit IT
• How do we assess problem solving skills and
  facilitate student growth in problem solving in
  an IT setting?

11
Summary

• Grading can be a valuable learning tool
• Hypothesis
• We can use a grading methodology to not only
  assess problem solving ability but to improve
  that skill in our students