One of the nicest things about finishing the course is the emails some students send to say how much they have enjoyed the course, how much they learned etc etc. Most then ruin it by asking for a higher grade. But some do not. And its important to enjoy these ones, because really, that’s why I do it.
Monthly Archives: December 2012
Please, I'd like a higher grade
Most faculty I know hate the period straight after posting the final grades. Students email asking for a higher grade. Really. They just ask for a higher grade. I’ve had about a dozen such requests already. I take a hard line of this, partly because life does, and partly for the following reason.
The final grades
Final exam
It always amazes me how much better students do on the final exam than they do on the four class tests I run during the semester. Obviously I like to think it is that because my teaching eventually makes an impact. More likely, it is the fact that 20% of the final grade rests on the exam….
Plagiarism
Earlier in the semester I had problems with students plagiarizing material for the class blog. I had to write up two of them as academic integrity violations.
Ignorance
Today, the last proper class, I talked about why we sleep. Yet another profoundly important and interesting question science has so far failed to answer.
Overall class test grade
I take the best two grades from the four class tests as the overall class test grade (worth 26% of the final grade). The grade distribution for that:
Class Test 4
Class average excluding the students who did not do the test, was 77.5% (C+), slightly down on class tests 1, 2 and 3. A, 22; A-, 19; B+, 9; B, 7; B-, 13, C+, 16; C, 9; D, 29; Fails, 16, and a further 28 no-shows. No one got everything right, but 12 students got 100% given my grading algorithm.
Why does science impassion scientists?
One of the objectives of the course is to explain to the class why people become scientists. It is not the long training, low pay, endless hours or poor job security. I failed miserably to give a good answer in previous years. I got colleagues to post explanations, and the answers are good but its hard to get students to read the blog, and it made no impact when I read them out last year.
Honestly
One of the students told me today s/he had been offered money to write blog posts for another class member.