I believe that we have completed over half of the course! You should all be proud of the work you have accomplished so far. I know y'all are going to be the next wave of educators who incorporate technology into the curriculum. Hey, at least everyone has been able to exist in a web 2.0 environment . . .it's not your mother's Internet. Speaking of web 2.0, I noticed that I only had about 13 comments on last week's blog. Please don't forget that commenting is not only a way to build community, but to earn some of your precious attendance and perticipation points ;-)
This week: I believe that I have graded all of the resubmitted and/or tardy past assignments. Please check the "my grades" section of webCT. All I have left to grade is the wiki assignment, which I hope to have finished by classtime tomorrow!
I hope everyone has been working on the TaskStream narrative for NETS I. I had asked that you use Google docs to collaborate. We will spend some time discussing the narrative(s), Google docs, and introducing the copyright assignment. I have also posted the spreadsheet (excel) assignment that you will complete for Halloween.
Journal #6: This is from the current issue of L&L, which I was able to log into and access (I hope you can too. . .) The article, "The Threat of Security", by LeAnn Robinson, Abbie Brown, & Tim Green highlights some of the current issues that are fueled by administrator's fear of lawsuits.
This week's Question: Does our Education Institution's hyperfocus on grades kill instrinsic motivation? In other words, would you try just as hard in this class if the grading was pass/fail? Why or why not?
21 comments:
This is a great question, not only about education but life etc. It brings to mimd the Question "what would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?" The fear of being graded or failed or analyzed stops many people from even getting into the game. With the focus on grades and college etc, learning becomes secondary to getting grades in some cases. This class is different because we can screw up and we just try again until we get it right(with in a time frame)......I think the focus on learning in schools should be evaluated with more creativity to encourage full on attention to the task and not so much what grade you earn. With less pressure on grades i think in general learning would improve along with participation.
I think that sometimes grades overwhelm students to the point in which they forget about the main idea of why they are doing the assignment. I am kind of in the middle on the subject because I know some people that would still do the assignment without a grade and I know some that wouldn't do the assignment inless it was being graded. I believe or I hope that most students would do their best because they wanted to better themselves.
I think I could write a research paper on this topic if asked. There is a terrific book that I read before I became a teacher called, "Why We Do, What We Do" by Edward L. Deci. It is about understanding self motivation. It changed my outlook on my own education as well as my students'. I am here in this class because I want to be here. I want to learn how to be the most effective and efficient teacher possible. Even if my credential did not require a technology class I would be enrolled in this one or one similar because I can be. I will probably enroll in another at some point after this course is completed. Though I am still very cautious with the computer, specifically the Mac, I feel more and more confident to try new things. For the record, I have done better in the courses that I have chosen to take for my personal benefit incomparison to those I am required to take. Less pressure? I hope I answered your question in some way.
Wow, I am currently in the trenches on grading and ask myself this same question every week. Why can't I just ask students to do the work and ask them to evaluate their LEARNING at the end of the semester. It is my hope that learning is more important that the earned grade, but I am a bit naive. I just had a student tell me she has a 4.0 and does not know what she will do if it drops. For her, that pressure is intense and can present a difficult situation when she does earn a B. I know grades are important and show a level of mastery, but I believe grades are often diluted. We should encourage students to learn as fully as possible; if they change their focus to learning, the grades will follow. But try telling that to a pre-med student....
I think each individual would answer this question differently. I really think it depends on the type of person you are, and your strengths and weaknesses. I'm the type of person who would try their best, even if it was a pass/fail class. Especially when it's something that I feel will help me in the future. This class is very hard for me- I'm not very computer litterate. If this was a pass/fail class, it would eleviate some of the fear/pressure I feel each week. I still want to learn how to do all of these things, but I wouldn't feel such panic when an assignment I'm working on isn't going well. As far as students caring, I think that's something inside of each of them. I think the high achieving students always want to do well. The lower ones would be happy because they could now do less work, and perhaps still get by.
Learning is an organic and dynamic experience in life. It is a joyful expression human's ability to interpret the world around us and incorporate past experiences into present and future choices and situations. The current trend in education for testing, testing, testing is in complete opposition to the trend of learning, learning, learning...for learning's sake. Our children are not equipped to form new and dynamic solutions and behaviors..because all we care about whether they can recite the capitals of the 50 states. Education and intelligence cannot be accuralety measured by testing alone. It should be quantified in a more holistic approach incorporating self-motivation, critical thinking, depth of understanding, and growth in learning, along with core subject content...Take a look at what happens we when as a people allow standardized testing, economics, and birth rights to measure success and learning...three words ...George W. Bush (but I bet he can recite all of the state capitals...)
I think that student grading keeps students on their toes. Some students would not perform if there was not a system to monitor their performance. I think things have gone a bit crazy with student testing, which puts a great deal of pressure on students and takes away from the fun of learning. I would always try to understand to the best of my ability and really enjoy this technology class.
Many of the other students who commented said it all- education is about learning. There are so many pressures and distractions that take away from that learning process and grades are one of them. I was one of those students who was afraid to get less than an "A", and when I did, I felt like a failure. I truly believe that I would have learned more, and enjoyed what I was learning more if it were pass/fail. Yes I would be performing exactly the same whether this class was graded or pass/fail.
Does a focus on grades kill intrinsic motivation? I don't think that grades kill intrinsic motivation, but I do think that grades change the focus of a student's motivation. Students become focused on their grades rather than on their actual learning. Motivated students will remain motivated students, but often they are being motivated by the wrong thing. I would like to think I would try just as hard if this class were pass/fail, but in the back of my mind I would be wondering if my Pass were an A-Pass or a C-Pass. I think I've become institutionalized to grades.
I think our educational system focuses way too much on the end result instead of the process. I find that when I am learning something new, by focusing on the process and not worrying about the end product as much, I actually learn more. It's too bad we don't live in some sort of Utopian world where students could actually pick the way they want to be graded...some do best when they work towards a grade (goal oriented people) and some do best when they don't have to worry about the grade (self motivated people). The grading system for our class is different than any I've experienced before, and I like it. Even though the grade is important, the process is obviously important, too--because we get the chance to fix our mistakes after we turn the assignments in. To me, this is kind of the best of both worlds.
I am not a big fan of the graded system. I believe pass/fail is sufficient for evaluating the learning process. As a student being graded on the scale, I get too concerned with "getting points" rather than learning. When I was a private school teacher, I was told by my boss to make sure grades fell within the "bell curve." I think the pass/fail sytem takes away needless competition, and puts the emphasis on the learning.
Having a pass/fail grading system would take a lot of pressure off the student. I do believe that good students would continue to be good students and the students that just "get by" would continue to just get by, just with fewer people knowing. The grading system is the best way to not only know what the student learned, but to measure the amount of effort they put into the subject. Pressure is good, it's what they have in the "real world".
I feel that grades are important but probably over emphasized. Grades are good tools to remind the student how he/she is performing. If grades are used as constructive measurements I think they can be very useful. As an analogy I can use an exercise scenario. For instance, let’s say I want to exercise and I have two choices. One choice is to exercise by running in place in the dark. The other is to exercise using a treadmill that tells me the total mileage, the miles per hour, time, calories, heart rate etc… In the first choice I have few parameters by which to gage my progress. This seems like a pass/fail scenario to me; I either exercised or I didn’t. In the second choice I have many parameters. This way is more like an activity where I am being graded because it gives me information about my exercise performance. I guess the problem is when my performance is scored competitively along side others. If I am similar to them then my performance will be seen positively. If not, I am not going to feel good about my performance or about the way it was graded.
In my college experience, I think students in pass/fail classes only give their bare minimum. Students put in more effort and time into their work if they're receiving an actual grade. Since elementary students feel intimidated and pressured in school, grading them might not be the best thing for every assignment.
I think grading is a reflection of the real world that students will soon join. There are degrees of success in life. It is alright to introduce this concept in our schools. I think pass/fail only would lower the bar of acheivement.
What an interesting question. I like this question because I think that intrinsic motivation can be lost when a class is based off grades. Some people are there to get an A but may not be there to actually learn. I think I was like that when I first went to college. I was not very interested in many of my GE courses. I new I just needed to pass. When I was completing my major that outlook changed. I was there because I wanted to be. Grades can be a burden and often can take control of motivation. It would be nice if grades were not necessary but I don't think students would be motivated to complete the assignments if they were not.
Having taken class pass/fail in my college career, I would have to say that students will only do enough work to get a passing grade, which if I remember correctly is equivlent to a C or higher. Taking classes pass/fail doesn't hold students accountable, because they only have to do minimal work to pass. I think for elective classes this is great, but for all other classes grades motivate students to do well.
There have been studies that show that learning and stress are closely related and that optimal learning happens when a person is alert, not apathetic and not anxious. With that being said, I think often the students are focused on what they need to meet the requirements, but not on the learning itself. Often it feels like eyes are diverted from the learning and focused on the grade. Without a better system in mind, I would vote for the grading system. However I am all ears for a new idea.
A great video on creativity:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY
I agree with alot of what Kelly says and that learning and application especially should be at the center, although I think we do need assessment to ensure that learning has taken place. Interest in the subject areas and applicability to the person's life seems to increase motivation the most. I think teachers should focus on these issues first and foremost.
As far as testing, there needs to be a proper balance. I also think that testing should adequately reflect the student learning and not try to "trip people up". The ability to self correct errors can facilitate this.
In some classes, I believe that a pass/fail grade works much better than a letter grade. In PE, for example, some students just aren't that athletic, but should they receive a D grade for trying. In other classes such as math, english, social studies, using a letter grade instead of pass or fails lets the student know the areas in which they need to focus on more. In regards to our class, I would definitely try as hard as I am, even if it was just a pass or fail class. The content that is presented to us is important in my technological advancement as a teacher. I would be cheating my self and my students if I didn't try hard and settled for the minimum to earn a pass.
To be quite honest I don’t think I would. It is very hard to prioritize work sometimes if one does not have the sense of urgency that grades inspire. Part of that may be because that is the environment that we are taught, but it think a person needs a sense of achievement. In Thailand, I had a harder time with classes that didn’t have grades, but you still knew there was a placement/advancement test that you had to meet or cease going to school. The goals were different, but the sense of urgency was still intact. Maybe a little stress is actually good?
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