Teaching

This week, I:

• Discuss a recent report from Harvard about problems with grading.
• Ask whether you think grading practices are problematic.
• Ask whether there’s too much tech in teaching.

The problem with grades

Harvard thinks it has a grading problem. Or, perhaps, it has a learning problem. Either way, its recent report, “Re-Centering Academics at Harvard College: Update on Grading and Workload” outlines a scenario that many in higher education would find familiar.

I wanted to write about the report — the third in a series Harvard has produced on challenges in undergraduate education — not because I think Harvard is a representative institution, but because the report makes some provocative arguments about the forces that influence grading, and I want to hear what you think.

Plus, there is a lot in the report that I believe readers can relate to. Whether you agree with the diagnosis and the proposed solutions, though, is a different matter.

The report, written by Amanda Claybaugh, dean of undergraduate education, is based on surveys of students and faculty members, including people in key positions, such as faculty who teach large introductory courses and students in advisory positions.

Claybaugh notes that “nearly all faculty expressed serious concerns” when asked about grading, and that newly arrived faculty are “surprised at how leniently our courses are graded.” Average grades have been on the rise since the early 2010s. Today about 60 percent of grades awarded at Harvard College are A’s, compared to 40 percent in 2015 and 24 percent in 2005.

An A is no longer a mark of distinction for many students, but an expectation. That is both demotivating and highly stressful, she concludes.

It’s demotivating because, as the report states, students simply do what they need to do to get the A and no more. They are also more likely to shop for courses in which higher grades are the norm than seek out more interesting, but more challenging, ones. It’s stressful because students know that if everyone else is getting A’s, that becomes their minimum standard. As one student was quoted as saying, “We are terrified of the A-.”

Is there something distinctly Harvard in all of this? Well, yes. Highly selective institutions hold themselves as standard-bearers of excellence. And part of the report is dedicated to the problem of determining who is truly exceptional if everyone is getting A’s. That matters when your students are expected to get into the country’s top graduate programs or secure highly competitive jobs and academic prizes.

That aside, most of the challenges the report describes at Harvard are common in higher education today:

• Professors often struggle to motivate students, who increasingly see education as a transactional experience.
• Students are more risk averse, feeling that their grades will make or break their planned career path.
• Faculty members say students do not prioritize their coursework, particularly in reading-intensive courses.

The report parses some of the pressures faculty members feel, which should also sound familiar to readers.

• Professors grade more easily when their colleagues do. They can’t risk being outliers because that might mean fewer students enroll in their courses.
• Student course evaluations have taken on more weight, so faculty members worry that they will be penalized if they grade relatively strictly.
• Students and others, such as advisers, may pressure instructors to change their grades.
• Administrators encourage professors to be mindful of the challenges their students may face, such as being less academically prepared for college or having difficult family situations. That may lead instructors to grade more leniently as a form of support.

Finally — and this is one argument that jumped out at me — the report asks whether modern teaching practices are part of the grade-inflation problem. Here are three arguments the report makes:

• Shifting from high-stakes assessments to low-stakes ones might have unintended consequences. Low-stakes assignments reward effort more than comprehension. As a result students develop a false sense of mastery.
• Allowing students to submit creative assignments, such as multimedia projects, may help with motivation and engagement. But that approach makes it harder to determine whether students have excelled in the course.
• Alternative-grading methods, such as ungrading and contract-based grading, don’t allow faculty members to differentiate among students in the same way as traditional grading because there’s more emphasis on grading for completion.

In short, there is a lot packed into this report, which is already shaping some public perceptions of Harvard, in particular, and higher education, in general.

What do you think about grading?

I want to hear from you about your own experiences with grading. Do you think grading is “out of whack,” as one Harvard professor was quoted as saying? Do grades no longer distinguish between excellent and acceptable work? Do modern teaching practices place too much emphasis on effort and completion and not enough on content mastery and skill development?

Write to me at beth.mcmurtrie@chronicle.com or fill out this Google form. I want to hear from you.

Is technology stressing students out?

In a Chronicle Advice piece, “The Case for Slow Teaching,” Pamela Scully, a professor at Emory University, argues that classroom technologies are increasing students’ stress, not helping them manage it. Scully has moved to a low-tech approach in her teaching with good results.

Do you think technology — such as learning-management systems, online readings and assignments, and screens in general — is stressing your students out or encouraging passivity toward their coursework? Have you reduced technology in your classes? When students have accommodations that require screens, or if you are required to teach all or part of your course online, what techniques do you use to reduce tech stress?

Write to me at beth.mcmurtrie@chronicle.com or fill out this Google form. Your example may appear in a future newsletter.

Thanks for reading Teaching. If you have suggestions or ideas, please feel free to email us at beth.mcmurtrie@chronicle.com or beckie.supiano@chronicle.com.

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