I went to invite you, but you're already there! The address is https://alternativegrading.slack.com/ -- try logging in there with your institutional email.
Thanks for sharing your insights, Dave! Perhaps because you're at Carleton (my alma mater!) and thus your student population tends to be high-achieving, this may not be a problem for you but I'm wondering - by introducing the potential to improve overall course grades by showing mastery on an end-of-term assessment, do you find that students are more likely to cheat on that potentially-high-stakes assessment? My grading system for the community college biology course I teach is also structured in way that gives students an opportunity to earn a high course grade if they perform well on a final cumulative exam, but I worry that it incentivizes students trying to cheat on that exam in particular. I just administered my final cumulative exam last week and despite what felt like extraordinary policing on my part, I still think I had two students (out of 36) cheating during the exam. Curious if you find the same thing.
Hi Jayme --- it's always great to hear from a Carleton alum!
That's an interesting question I hadn't really thought about. One thing that helps, I think, is that I'm not putting all of the emphasis on a single high-stakes assessment at the end. This particular policy aspect you're referring to is that overall course grades can be improved based on positive exam scores... period, regardless of when in the course they occurred. But you're right that if the end of the term is imminent, and a student wants to improve their grade from where they are, then doing well on the exam and retakes at the end is their next opportunity to do so.
For that last exam and set of retakes, about two-thirds of the students take it in a classroom with me, and the others use our college self-scheduled exam system. For those who take it self-scheduled, that's professionally proctored, so I hope that cheating opportunities are limited. They take it in a room with people taking exams for lots of subjects, so the opportunities to cheat based on someone near them is limited (at least, that's what I believe to be the case). For the students who take it in a classroom with me, I space them out and try to keep my eyes open. In-class cheating isn't something that I've had much of a problem with, but I don't know if I'm not looking carefully enough.
I suspect our different student populations and possibly also the courses we teach -- I teach an intro-level course that many students take simply to fulfill a curriculum requirement -- makes it more likely that my students would be incentivized to cheat. Most of my students don't! But a handful do, and I'm scratching my head about how to manage it. Thanks again for your thoughtful post!
please invite me to the Alternative Grading Slack. Thanks!
Invitation sent (to the email you use here)!
I'd appreciate an email invite to the Alternative Grading Slack! Thank you -
I went to invite you, but you're already there! The address is https://alternativegrading.slack.com/ -- try logging in there with your institutional email.
super, thanks! *red face*
Thanks for sharing your insights, Dave! Perhaps because you're at Carleton (my alma mater!) and thus your student population tends to be high-achieving, this may not be a problem for you but I'm wondering - by introducing the potential to improve overall course grades by showing mastery on an end-of-term assessment, do you find that students are more likely to cheat on that potentially-high-stakes assessment? My grading system for the community college biology course I teach is also structured in way that gives students an opportunity to earn a high course grade if they perform well on a final cumulative exam, but I worry that it incentivizes students trying to cheat on that exam in particular. I just administered my final cumulative exam last week and despite what felt like extraordinary policing on my part, I still think I had two students (out of 36) cheating during the exam. Curious if you find the same thing.
Hi Jayme --- it's always great to hear from a Carleton alum!
That's an interesting question I hadn't really thought about. One thing that helps, I think, is that I'm not putting all of the emphasis on a single high-stakes assessment at the end. This particular policy aspect you're referring to is that overall course grades can be improved based on positive exam scores... period, regardless of when in the course they occurred. But you're right that if the end of the term is imminent, and a student wants to improve their grade from where they are, then doing well on the exam and retakes at the end is their next opportunity to do so.
For that last exam and set of retakes, about two-thirds of the students take it in a classroom with me, and the others use our college self-scheduled exam system. For those who take it self-scheduled, that's professionally proctored, so I hope that cheating opportunities are limited. They take it in a room with people taking exams for lots of subjects, so the opportunities to cheat based on someone near them is limited (at least, that's what I believe to be the case). For the students who take it in a classroom with me, I space them out and try to keep my eyes open. In-class cheating isn't something that I've had much of a problem with, but I don't know if I'm not looking carefully enough.
I suspect our different student populations and possibly also the courses we teach -- I teach an intro-level course that many students take simply to fulfill a curriculum requirement -- makes it more likely that my students would be incentivized to cheat. Most of my students don't! But a handful do, and I'm scratching my head about how to manage it. Thanks again for your thoughtful post!