Discussion extra credit

For the next time, the discussion extra credit assignment should be modified so that a student can earn up to 20 points for writing two quality responses to a classmate (10 points each) and the original author earns 1 point but there is no limit to the amont of reflected glory that the original author can earn.

Topic rankings at midterm

At our first meeting I asked students in my history class what they felt was the most important decade during the time period covered by our class (1945 - present). Here are those results:

• Seven mentioned the 1960s
• Six voted for the 1940s and for the 2000s
• Four selected the 1970s
• Twenty-three selected the check box for "I don't know enough yet"

I also asked what they felt was the most important event of our time period: 

• Seven voted for the terroritst attacks on 11 September 2001 and a combination of "economy" and "recession"
• Five voted for the end of World War 2 (I included those who wrote "end of war")
• Earning two mentions each were the Cuban missile crisis, civil rights, the atomic bomb, and women's rights

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On the midterm there were similar questions:

• Eighteen said the 1960s were the most important decade
• Eleven mentioned the 1940s
• Three wrote the 2000s
• Two picked the 1950s and one the 1970s

And for the reasons they wrote that their top decade was the most important:

• The civil rights movement (including the Civil Rights Act of 1964) was mentioned fifteen times
• Ten mentioned World War 2
• Six mentioned the Vietnam war
• Three mentioned the women's movement, ending the Great Depression, the Cuban missile crisis, and the atomic bomb
• Two mentioned women's efforts during World War 2, President Kennedy's election, President Kennedy's assassination, the cold war, the Bay of Pigs, and the September 11 attacks
• Earning one mention each were Watergate, the United Nations, technology, OPEC, the election of President Obama, music in the 1950s, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., and "calm" in the 1950s

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Since I lectured on Vietnam just before the midterm, it makes sense that some of the later decades dropped in importance. I will ask students the last class meeting before the final exam to do this again, and on the final I will ask them why their ranking changed. That will mean individualizing the final exam but should result in a nice exercise in reflection.

Live feedback

I am using twitter and SMS in my history course this semester. What I do is tell students to tweet or text their questions at any time, and periodically I break and check what has been written. I also sometimes ask everyone to answer a question (e.g., what was the muddiest point). I tell them a hash tag for their tweets and I use Google Voice for the SMS. I check with my iPhone and do not use the computer connected to the projector. I also send out tweets once in a while with those hash tags in case any of my students are following. I do not require students to do either, and so I would not rely on either for roll or awarding points. There is also an instant messaging tool inside D2L, but I would limit the tools that students use as that reduces the number of places you have to check. It is possible for SMS messages sent to google to be forwarded as emails to any account .

Evidence of Outcome Achievement and Future Work

One of the assignments in my history class asks students to do a close analysis of an individual document. For those students who clearly excel (earn an A grade or better), I will try something this semester and let them skip  the remaining assignments in this category with a C grade. I wonder how many will take up the offer not to do the later work.

Frustrating Grading Rubric

Tonight I discovered that the grading rubric when using custom points counts as points possible the sum of the highest level of each criteria, which means that I have to create a level with the perfect score possible (maybe the "A range" instead of "A" as its label) so that the points calculate correctly. I was happy that the latest update to Desire2Learn's software finally allowed editing the feedback and points of the rubric grade.

Based on a lack of comment on this from students last semester (when I used the rubric with its cannot-be-edited flaw), I think it might be better just to write a grade for each of the criteria (they already have the rubric) and add additional comments as necessary.

Attendance and grading beyond the drop limit

My face-to-face history class meets twice a week for 30 times this semester, and I tell students in the syllabus that a fourth no-show means I will drop them from the class. However, there is a date when the only transcript option for students who get dropped is a W grade, which counts as one of their three attempts at this class. So what is the point of dropping students after that date if they can stay in the class, achieve its learning outcomes, and earn a passing grade?

I give points for attendance in the belief that presence and learning are correlated. If 70% of the points possible is required to pass the class, then at least 70% attendance is required to pass. With 1,000 points possible overall, then the attendance penalty should be greater than 300 points once the student has exceeded nine absences.

A simple progression does the trick:

• Perfect attendance = 120 points
• Four absences = -4 points each or -16 total penalty
  If the fourth absence occurs before the drop-without-notation date, I drop the student.
• The fifth absence = -8 points (-24 total penalty)
• Sixth = -16 (-40)
• Seventh = -32 (-72)
• Eighth = -64  (-136)
• Ninth = -128  (-264)
• Tenth = -256 (-520)

If a student misses class exactly nine times, the points for attendance will be -144. A tenth absence drops that to -400. Even if they earn all 87 points of extra credit, those students will have a maximum point total of 687 and therefore not pass the class.

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This also works with a class that meets once a week. In fall 2011 I awarded 10 points at each of 13 meetings and also had 1,000 total points possible in the class. Three was the limit then, but it should have been two and the attendance penalty should be greater than 300 points once the student has exceeded four absences:

• Perfect attendance = 130 points
• Three absences = -10 points each or -30 total penalty
  If the third absence occurs before the drop-without-notation date, I drop the student.
• The fourth absence = - 260 points (-290 total penalty)
• The fifth absence = -390 (-650)

If a student misses class exactly four times, the points for attendance will be -160. A fifth absence drops that to -520.

Three Compliments

Today my students complemented me in three different ways. We have not met for a couple of weeks because of the Veterans' Day holiday, and one of them said she felt like it had been a long time since we last met. A second expressed surprise that we were so close to the end of the semester (one more meeting after today). The third said he was worried about taking a three-hour class but that each day he felt like it flies by.