Learning and Teaching Center (Old)

St. Olaf event on Wednesday, March 14

The Center for Innovation in the Liberal Arts invites you to lunch and a presentation/discussion about questions of grading:

"I can't believe you gave me a B-: Conversations about Grading Problems and Practices"

Wendy Allen, Romance Languages
Mary Titus, English and Women's Studies
John Walters, Chemistry

Wednesday, March 14, 11:45-1:30 p.m. in Buntrock 142

Bill McKeachie, who has written extensively about learning and teaching for many years, suggests that if faculty want to spend a lot of time talking with their students about grades, they might consider these suggestions:

1. Never give students any idea of what their grades are before the final exam. The shock of seeing an F will so stun them they'll be incapable of protest.
2. Tell students you really think they deserved a higher mark, but that you had to conform to department grading policies and hence had to grade them lower.
3. Tell students that grades are really arbitrary, and that you could have split the Bs from the Cs in many different places. They'll appreciate the aesthetic value of your choice of a cutting point.

How do you grade and what do you tell your students? Join this discussion led by three faculty about how they handle the grading questions.

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Susan Carlson
Program Assistant
Center for Innovation in the Liberal Arts
St. Olaf College
507-222-3553 / cila@stolaf.edu