Hi
On Fri, 19 Nov 1999, RICHARD PISACRETA wrote:
> U of Winnipeg also has something like this, called a course
> comparison index (CCI). It shows the average performance of
> students in your class relative to their performance in all
> other classes. A university committee examines CCIs before
> approving final grades for presentation to Senate and can
> withhold approval pending explanation or even change grades for
> a course that is too deviant. The committee also examines
> grade distributions and dropout statistics for the course at
> the same time. Although this kind of index helps, it cannot
> fully prevent institution-wide drift nor handle the situation
> where students aggregate in easy courses (i.e., easy courses
> are being compared to average of other easy courses).
> I think that this is outrageous. What happened to academic freedom?
First I would point out that it can be difficult for faculty to
know whether their expectations of students are too high, too
low, or just right. One of the ways to think about this scheme
is that it provides such feedback in that one finds out how
students did in your class relative to how they did in their
other courses. To a certain degree, instructors are free to
interpret this how they wish (e.g., superior instruction). Even
extreme deviations might be accepted by the committee with
adequate justification.
It is worth remembering, as well, that, like all freedoms,
academic freedom has limitations. I assume that Rip would not
want to argue that instructors could give all students inflated
grades (e.g., A+) with impunity? Again, without a scheme like
the CCI, there would be no rational grounds for saying whether an
instructor had acted irresponsibly.
Finally, over the 10 years that I have been here, the system has
identified one or two occasions when instructors were clearly
abrogating their academic responsibilities.
I hope that my post didn't give the impression that unilateral
senate modification of grades was a typical thing. That happens
only rarely, and then only after a back-and-forth exchange with
the instructor and as a last resort.
Best wishes
Jim
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James M. Clark (204) 786-9757
Department of Psychology (204) 774-4134 Fax
University of Winnipeg 4L05D
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
CANADA http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark
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