If you ever doubted why we needed student self-assessment in the Standards …
The New York Times is reporting some scary stuff about students’ expectations for high college grades just for showing up or doing the reading. Others are equating effort with the reward of a high grade.
A recent study by researchers at the University of California, Irvine, found that a third of students surveyed said that they expected B’s just for attending lectures, and 40 percent said they deserved a B for completing the required reading …
James Hogge, associate dean of the Peabody School of Education at Vanderbilt University, said: “Students often confuse the level of effort with the quality of work. There is a mentality in students that ‘if I work hard, I deserve a high grade.’
In line with Dean Hogge’s observation are [the survey’s] test results. Nearly two-thirds of the students surveyed said that if they explained to a professor that they were trying hard, that should be taken into account in their grade.
Jason Greenwood, a senior kinesiology major at the University of Maryland echoed that view.
“I think putting in a lot of effort should merit a high grade,” Mr. Greenwood said. “What else is there really than the effort that you put in?”
“If you put in all the effort you have and get a C, what is the point?” he added.
[Brower] said that if students developed a genuine interest in their field, grades would take a back seat, and holistic and intrinsically motivated learning could take place.
“College students want to be part of a different and better world, but they don’t know how,” he said. “Unless teachers are very intentional with our goals, we play into the system in place.”
THIS IS WHY WE IN LIBRARY LAND TALK ABOUT STUDENTS NEEDING TO LEARN TO ASSESS BOTH THE PROCESS AND THE PRODUCT. See how this student confuses the two? The student equates effort (process) with the summative assessment (product). The students wants credit for the effort (process), even if — maybe especially if — the product misses the mark. Is this a realistic life skill? That “trying” is enough? After all, if the new stimulus package fails, will anyone give credit to politicians for “trying hard”?
These ideas are jostling around with Carol Dweck’s video interview I blogged about a few posts ago. How we help students deal with the reality of a product-oriented society while also investing in the process, when society judges only the product? It’s a big question … one I can’t answer right off …
Image: AASL Standards + Photofunia’s image generator