A blogger posted this under an earlier topic: (let's give mid-term grades their own heading)
The effectiveness of mid-term grades might be a good thing to blog about. I know that some people didn’t like that surprise. In general we don’t want to be surprised. We like providing input on all decisions regarding the classroom. Administrators are not in the classroom. Their vision might not be our vision. And we don’t want people in suits seeing visions. Yadda, yadda, yadda.
I’ll tell you what my opinion is of mid-term grades. Students, if they are going to have problems, usually have problems well before the mid-term point. I don’t think publishing mid-term grades increases student achievement. If anything, students get tired near the end of the term and calculate how low they can perform on final exams to still get that B or C they want. I believe that time could be better used.
If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands. If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands. If you’re happy and you know it, and your feet will surely show it, If your happy and you know it clap your hands. We know where I am going next. The beloved does not feel loved when they hear comments that pertain to the unbeloved.
August 22, 2008 4:59 AM
13 comments:
There is a correlation between happiness and compensation. Year after year we have heard times are tough. They are so tough. We may not see a raise this year, and maybe the next two or three. Well, bullshit. Florida state community college allocations are public. We do comparatively recap PJC’s years. Recently administration did have to admit that the state had been very, very, very good to PJC. Actually, salary planning just was last on the priority list. It would have been nice if it would have been first, but that would have taken actual planning.
We’ll see what the new president does.
I have not heard one faculty member that has said that mid-term grade posting is a good idea. On the student evaluations used prior to this past year, there was a question "informs me of my academic progress." Records show faculty members have been letting students know about their academic progress.
It probably isn't a good thing to start making rules without learning about the institution first and communicating with faculty members. It creates bad morale. The who cares what faculty think attitude hasn't gone over well here. We have recently seen team of one incoming administrators who have that attitude: Dr. W, Dr. S, Dr. C.
Faculty members aren't just a category of employees at the college. They are part of the community. To treat us poorly is to treat the community poorly.
Why were we not asked?
Totally agree with the above comment, particularly since an incoming administrator obviously doesn't know squat about the details of the system he is using to create this new layer of beaurocracy vs the successful methods of informing faculty were already using. Now faculty have a manufactured exact date, online, at 4pm, with a myriad of stupid reminders and headaches and requirements to manually enter for a zillion students no matter what successful methods through which they are already sending grades automatically all the way along, and must calculate for that date and time regardless of giving midterms that night or two days later or whatever. Just one more dumbness. As always, if individual faculty are not competent to provide the necessary learning environment, deal with the SITUATIONS not the whole by imposing blanket stupidity.
Complete lack of communication
He doesn’t sound invested to me. How would a person invested in PJC act? It’s not like that. We are invested; and we are not amused.
Notice protocol violation--condemning buildings
I’m excited to hear about the New Australia campus. It’s just what we needed. It’ll be so far away that gun firing sounds don’t aggravate residents and stray bullets pose no danger. There are a few minor negatives. Average people won’t want to drive there, and it’ll have sinful waste potential. But on the positive side, we’ll be able to send one of our provosts there.
Not sure what all the angst/panties in a wad is about over mid-term grades. We did these for years, no one bargained or complained (well maybe so) when these were stopped due to paperwork involved. So what's the hot problems now? What does research show? I know colleges still do mid-term grades and there must be a reason for mid-term grades.
UWF and USA doesn't post mid-term grades.
If we had mid-term grades here, we had them more than 30 years ago. Some instructors did post grades, not mid-term grades, on sheets of paper taped to the walls.
A couple of things
(1) Everyone knows we commandos don't wear panties.
(2) The friendly thing to say is that listening to faculty often has good results, but you never know if you don't listen.
He listened and Dr. Gonzalez being named interim, academic VP is a good thing. He could have brought someone one in just to put a buddy or someone nobody in their right mind would have ever picked into the desirable Florida retirement system. Kudos to him for that.
I don't really have problems entering midterm grades, but I'm wondering where he got the idea. Do other CC's do it? I know FSU doesn't and someone already pointed out that UWF and USA don't.
Are we going back to high school mentality now? Are we going to start putting in grades every 9 weeks like the public schools do?
What happened to students taking responsibility for their own actions?
I have a great idea; if a student comes in the first day he/she gets an A, but if he/she comes in after that he/she gets an F. This way we don't have to worry about the biweekly eroster or midterm grades.
Lack of consultation between the faculty and the administration is the underlying problem, not Mid-Term grades. Lack of consultation, lack of trust, and an unnecessary need to control.
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