Son of Timatollah

Earlier this summer, I participated in a Course Makeover class that was offered by ERAU's Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence. The courses that got the facelift were CEC 410, Digital Signal Processing, and CEC 411, Digital Signal Processing Laboratory.

As part of the makeover, I'm moving away from a homework/problem set with exams for grading model to one where section outcomes are assessed at the start of the next meeting via a short quiz with a couple of problems on it. The problems will directly resemble practice problems assigned that ought to allow students to develop mastery of the content corresponding to the desired outcomes. Each problem is an Assessment, and each Assessment is graded on an Excellent/Exceeds, Satisfactory/Meets, Unsatisfactory/Needs Improvement basis.

I've come up with a grading scheme based on the performance on the Assessments, and I'd like comments on it. In words:

Grades are based on the fraction of assessments scored Satisfactory or Excellent. A putative grade will be assigned as follows:
• In order to pass, a student needs for 50% or better of all assessments, less excused absences, to be Satisfactory or Excellent;
• If a student passes, and if the fraction of Excellent assessments out of Satisfactory and Excellent assessments is less than 10%, then the putative grade will be a C;
• If a student passes, and if the faction of Excellent assessments out of Satisfactory and Excellent assessments is 10% or better but less than 50%, then the putative grade will be a B;
• If a student passes, and if the fraction of Excellent assessments out of Satisfactory and Excellent assessments if 50% or better, then the putative grade will be an A;
• Each student is allowed one unexcused absence. The actual letter grade will be the putative letter grade decreased by one for each unexcused absence beyond the one allowed.

The draft information sheet is available here, complete with a nifty C/Java implementation of the above, and the course schedule, for those who want to see what the section outcomes are, is here.

I'm curious as to what people think about this, particularly students. So, feel free to flame away in the comments, or send e-mail to timatollah@mackandtim.net.

Labels: assessment, excellent, grading, satisfactory, scheme, unstatisfactory

Hi, all. Just got back tonight from a couple of nights in and around the District of Columbia, our nation's seat of government. Was up there representing NOGLSTP on the Engineers Week Diversity Council at a meeting with Obama's staffer for education (Senate, not presidential campaign).

The randomness:

• First time I was in one of the legislative office buildings. Got a good look at the Capitol, but didn't arrange time for a tour. Looking forward to going back.
  
• Backgrounding on matters of assessment in engineering education. How do we ensure that we turn out quality engineers from our degree programs? There's a sense that traditional methods need scruitiny, and the ABET accreditation processes we all go through is designed to make sure that the engineers we graduate are succeeding in the workplace, but what can we do different to assess in a very short term that students are learning what we want them to without starting over from scratch? Or am I over-estimating the downside to starting over from scratch?
  
• Still working on Alaska pics. Three or so more days to go: Barrow, Anchorage, and last day.
  
• Trying to figure out how to get more involved in the Vote No on Amendment 2 activities. The number of straight people who don't get it—that our (gay people's) lives are just as full of love, are just as valid, as theirs; that discrimination is not in their best interest; that one day they're negatively impacting their own children or grandchildren—is frustrating. May be going to "speaker training" this weekend. (SEND MONEY TO THESE PEOPLE, PLEASE!)
  
• The Washington trip is very interesting. I mean, it's fun to be involved in setting the direction—or at least being valued in what that direction is—for an enterprise. Imagine when that enterprise is the USA!
  
• Some say that civilization as we know it is headed down the tubes, but I present three examples that say those folks are wrong: (1) A young man waiting for a plane a few weeks ago was reading Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl, a book I can recommend without reservation; (2) young man on the plane next to me the other day was reading The True Believer by Eric Hoffer, an author I can recommend without reservation (even if he did turn into a crank in his dotterage); (3) young (Israeli—kid was no older than fourteen) man on the plane next to me today had a CD of King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King. Have confidence in the next generation. We are in good hands.
  
• I supposedly have a sabbatical coming up a year from now. What to do? What? To? Do?
  

Labels: abet, amendment 2, assessment, council, dc, district of columbia, diversity, education, engineering, eweek, fairness, families, noglstp, obama, randomness, washington