Re: more about adjuncts [HAPP-L]

[TDay@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

I obviously have alot of free time today...

Having been an sessional for a few years and having felt the pressure to
miantain a  C+ on my excell spreadsheets....this topic always ruffles my
feathers....so I'll hope you'll humour me (think of it as training future
faculty) through a few questions...

1. Can someone give me an operational definition of mark inflation (marking
too easy, making tests too easy, increasing grades above an expected
predetermined outcome)? I keep hearing this term thrown around...who is to
say, then, if it is inflated...is 65% the standard....if so, why?

2. "I'd like to see a convincing argument that a college student's grades
should reflect anything other than true success on exams and assignments
that require thinking." I think that was Alice...and I agree..... I liked
your use of "should" and assume you used it deliberately......I don't think
that they "do" though.....how can we deny that our teaching, test making
and test marking strategies affect the student's grade. Why do I bust my
ass to make sure that they "get" osmolarity if my class average should be a
C+ no matter what I do? I still have a hard time reconcilling the two (how
can I simultaneously care about how they do and teach like I care, while
trying to maintain a 65% with how I test/mark?). Why do I teach....why do I
have a job....what is my role? Maybe my job is to impart my enthiusiasm for
my subject or convey my approach to understanding and applying difficult
concepts,  or to facilitate a group interaction with the material, to
entertain them? Maybe this is the stuff of a career's worth of inquiry, but
certainly worth pursuing the answers to....(I'm trying to get a head
start!)

It does frighten me that marks (too high or too low) can influence
sessional reassignment or the granting of tenure.....I'm starting to wonder
what the alternative should be though, aspecially if student evals are as
worthless as many think. Anyone consider that the remuneration for marking
(or lack thereof) affects grading quality by adjucts? If learning outcomes,
assessment and feedback (as measured by student grades?) are so important
these days, why is it that test making and grading quality and consistency
is not given top priority in our post-secondary instsitutions. Someone with
a salary has the time to do that (maybe I'm wrong here, sorry if I'm being
naive, and if I am, my point is stronger), but what about sessionals (a
large population of staff members at such places)? For me, the contact time
(which is what I'm paid for) is the easy part...

Back to research...
Trevor Day



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