When do engineering students want to be graded on the curve

1
When do engineering students want to be graded on
the curve?

• Farzaneh Rezaei
• Presentation for HIED546

2
What are criterion and normative grading

• Normative compares the individual
• against each other
• Criterion compares the individual
• against preset criteria

3
Disadvantages of Normative Grading

• It tells us nothing about standards.
• Students' actual achievement may not be
  acknowledged
• Students do not know where they stand until the
  course is over
• Norm-referencing encourages poor evaluation
  practices
• Source Online reference Norm- verses
  Criterion-Referenced Grading, see the reference
  slide

4
Disadvantages of Criterion Grading

• Standards may be set too low or too high (volokh
  conspiracy,2007 )
• it can encourage "template learning".

• Source Online reference Norm- verses
  Criterion-Referenced Grading, see the reference
  slide

5
I Search..
6
Methodology

• I asked couple of different faculty and students
  which method of grading they prefer and why? The
  sample Included
• Undergraduate Students Randomly select 10
  undergraduate students in Civil and Environmental
  Engineering to interview.
• 7 faculty members in both Ag and Biological
  Engineering as well as Civil and Environmental
  Engineering.
• 10 graduate students with engineering or
  education background.

7
Responses from faculty members

• Response from one faculty (randomly selected)
• If students really understood what the curve is
  they would never wish to be graded on the curve.
  The curve requires that you fail the same number
  of students what receive an A.
• The curve also assumes that the student
  population is normally distributed. The
  college-student population is not normally
  distributed. The selection process to get into
  college removes a large portion of the normal
  curve.
• I think students believe grading on the curve
  helps all students get higher grades.

8
Head of Ag and Biological Engineering Department
Suggestion

• Being consistent, honest, and informative are
  extremely important traits when providing
  students meaningful assessments of their
  performance in a course.

9
When do students want to be graded on the curve?
Instructor common responses

• If the class average is low, they want to be
  graded based on the curve

10

• Which one do you prefer and why?
• (Responses from Graduate students)

11
How students responded to their preferred method
of grading?
90 of the students prefer to be graded on the
curve
12
Conclusion

• Most of faculty members prefer to grade students
  based on preset criteria
• Undergraduate students in engineering discipline
  usually want to be graded on the curve since they
  think they will get higher grade!! They
  especially want curve grading if they feel the
  exam was hard or not fair at all.
• Gradate students prefer preset criteria! They
  said that they will grade their own students
  based on preset criteria as well.
• I personally prefer criterion grading, however,
  there are still some problems associated with
  this type of grading. At the end of semester, if
  the average of the class is low, I would change
  the range (cutoff points) for grading.

13
Future Work

• I think there are still lot more to do with this
  research to have a clear conclusion, for
  instance
• If I had more time I would like to interview more
  students either in engineering discipline or out
  side and compare them together,
• I also would like to compare the responses from
  different ethnic background as well.

14
References

• Norm- verses Criterion-Referenced Grading
  http//people.uleth.ca/runte/inflation/norm.htm
• Accessed on Jun 2007
• Volokh conspiracy (2007). Grading on a curve.
  http//volokh.com/posts/1149788426.shtml,
  Accessed on Jun 2007

15
Acknowledgments

• Thanks to the faculty members in Ag and
  Biological Engineering Department , graduate
  students and instructor in HIED 546, and
  undergraduate students in Civil and Environmental
  Engineering Department for their help to complete
  my survey.