Stu is .75 points away from an A. Stu's final project which was a group project suffered because the group chose to veer from the original project plan because they didn't have time to meet and work together. Their project was inconsistent and not robust enough which left them with a B grade. Since the final project is a large portion of their final grade, Stu's final grade was hurt. Stu's portion of the project was actually the only portion of the project that was on plan with what we talked about and if the group would have done this for their entire project, I am confident they would have gotten an A. However, the group did not do this. Stu emails me explaining that s/he tried to talk to the group and convince them not to change the project but that they did not listen and asks if I will reevaluate her grade. I went back and evaluated Stu's work and attendance. On the peer evaluations Stu scored her peers mediocre but not badly that I thought anything of it, but s/he is an undergrad and may not have felt comfortable scoring them poorly. Stu is a good student and hir work reflects this. However, Stu did miss one class (we have class once a week so I get that) and did not turn in two small assignments, which were worth 3.5 points of the 100 total points. Part of me understands what Stu is going through because I've been there (not that long ago...)and had bad group experiences. Part of me also feels that s/he should have scored her peers lower on the peer evaluation or come to me earlier about the problems the group was having (they worked on the project for 2.5 weeks) and that if s/he would have completed the other assignments s/he would have gotten the A. Mr. T had a situation similar to this when he was in undergrad except he turned in all of his assignments. He said that he was grateful the professor considered his work separately because otherwise the group project would have dropped his final grade an entire letter. Uggghh...this story makes me want to be sympathetic.
What would you do? Would you adjust the student's grade based on hir portion or would you explain that if s/he would have turned in all of hir other assignments s/he wouldn't be in this position in the first place.
if she had done the other work, she would have earned the A correct. Part of group work is LEARNING to work with others, and since she asked to have her grade changed, I have to say I would not change it, but I am mean
ReplyDeleteIn dilemmas like this I will bump up a grade up to two percentage points. The failing to turn in assignments would make me less likely to do it, but if I really can't decide I'll err on the side of generosity.
ReplyDeleteThat's only *IF* you haven't already given grades out. If you've already handed grades out and this is a grade complaint, I'd say NO. If she had turned in the assignments she'd have gotten a higher grade. I don't like encouraging grade complaints unless an actual mistake has been made.
But consider the impact that this grade would have on the student's potential ability to get scholarships, get into grad school, etc. Yes, Stu should have turned in the other assignments but to be so close to an A (really, if s/he had .25 higher, you would have rounded up anyway) and have circumstances such as these is unfortunate. I'd give hir the grade (speaking as a student and faculty member!)
ReplyDeleteI always try to remember that for every student who comes in to beg me for a grade favor, there is at least one student who is quietly accepting a similarly sucky situation but they aren't a complainer. I was one of those quiet students and had no idea that you could beg for a higher grade, and get it! so, to be fair to the students who don't know how to play the game, I do not give bonus points. What I might consider doing is lowering my A threshold, so thay anyone else who is 0.75 points away from an A will get one too.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what I would do in this situation, but because part of what I teach is to navigate group projects and dynamics, I have this thing I do: if a group project goes wrong, I give the group members the option of writing a reflection on what went wrong in their group. This reflection gives them the opportunity of reflecting on how they let the group go astray and what they could do in the future to keep from landing in a similar situation (not pushing hard enough, getting too involved in having fun or whatever to stick to the assignment, not being available or chastising others enough when others aren't available, not having a plan B when someone doesn't fulfill their responsibilities, etc.). This reflection bumps up their grades, assuming that they don't just lay the blame on someone else. If a group project goes wrong, everyone has to take responsibility. But all the group members get this opportunity, not just the complainer.
ReplyDeleteI do teach things like group dynamics, groupthink, and the tendency to rush to consensus in my class, so my students have some language and concepts they can compare their own experience to. But you could easily send them to Wikipedia "groupthink" and tell them to connect their group experience to those concepts.
I do think that this reflection helps them make sense out of their bad experiences, helping them to learn, so that's why I do it.
Yikes, this is a tough one. I agree with feMOMhist: if grades are already out, I wouldn't change because you didn't make a mistake.
ReplyDeleteMissing one class seems like a pretty good attendance record, so I wouldn't let that sway me. I can't speak for the two small assignments b/c I don't know what they mean to the learning objectives of the class.
It seems like if hir portion of the group work was solid, then well I'd be more inclined to give hir the bump. That said, I also agree that complainers are just that: they can't deal with the numbers so they create more work for us etc. I could go back and forth on this, which doesn't help, I know.
Does the student do "A" level work? Can you give hir an A- ?
Thank you all for your advice and suggestions! They came in handy and in the end I ended up giving hir the slight raise in the grade and discussed with Stu the lessons that I hope s/he learned from the situation. Hir portion of the work was stellar and what I wanted to see from my students. If the student would have been reflective and more open on the peer evals, hir grade would have reflected that. I will also consider adding in the reflection piece to the evaluations. I had not turned in grades so that also made it easier. Also, when I looked at other student's grade, the small percentage that I changed hir grade wouldn't have impacted their final grades so I feel that it was fair in that aspect. Thank you all again! you made my decision much easier.
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