Thurs, March 15, grading systems, more final project info

On Thursday, Jimmy went over the course syllabus again. He told us about the importance of our school's Learning Policy and our classes "learning outcomes." I kind of wish I had considered this ages ago, especially during those times I've thought that the classes I was taking wasn't helping us really learn any sort of way. Aside from that, he went over a bit more stuff that was on the course syllabus. Why though? Why on the last day of class before finals? Well, he then told us what he wanted on Final's day, and proceeded to tell us his previous grading system. His previous grading system, as he described, seemed a tad complicated, but from what I understood, he would rate the project or assignment from a number scale of 1-5. He would also include notes on what needed improving or possibilities of making it better. The problem with this method of grading was that a lot of people would end up believing that if one would receive a 3, it would mean they have received a "C," when in actuality, it just means you're doing "average."

I think in my own way, I had found some sort of way to understand Jimmy's earlier methods of grading. I thought that maybe it wasn't Jimmy's grading method that really seemed too complicated to understand and that maybe it's our original grading system that's been wrong this whole time. What do I mean? Well, in elementary school, I learned that getting an "A" meant you were doing excellent work. You were doing work that exceeded the outcome. "B" meant that you made a few mistakes but the work was still excellent. "C" was always marked as average. Yet everyone would receive an "A" because they've either completed to work, despite it being excellent or exceeding the outcome. Though the elementary grading systems can't really be compared to a college leveled grading system, the general idea is still there. So the question I ask is: Is being average so wrong? It's true that we're supposed to try and aim for that "A," and that we should always try and exceed out expectations. But what if that "A" bar has been lowered by so much that to get there, all you needed to do was do "average." Maybe I've confused my readers, but just ask yourself: "What if?" "What if... getting an A only meant to match the following criteria? And that matching the following criteria was simply meant as 'average.' What if 'C' was really meant to be 'A'?"

 I also couldn't help but think how awesome it'd be to get written feedback on ways of improving because we all do learn from our mistakes, especially if it's pointed out to us. Though it would be time consuming and hard to keep up with everyone, especially if the class is as large as ours. (Our class has about 26+ students)

He went on to tell us the pros of his new method of grading. Us not really knowing how we're doing has an emotional influence on us which can help or hinder us. This all then came together into an assignment. We are to write a one page self assessment on what grade we think we should be getting in the class. The paper would not influence the grade that we'll be getting in the class, though he wants to understand the nature of how we're doing in this class. I'm actually finding this assignment interesting because if ever I were a teacher, I'd want to how my students consider themselves to be progressing in class. Especially when we've never really received an actually written grade the assignments we turn in. It definitely would make reading student's papers more fascinating-- not that some already aren't, I'm sure.

The very last thing we did in class was discuss the difference between Art and Design (communication). We came to the conclusion that design was to solve problems, where as art isn't necessarily problem solving. Someone also mentioned that art sells itself whereas design sells something else. To emphasize more on the difference between art and design, designers solves problems not for ourselves, but for a potential audience. And normally when there is a problem, the problem comes from your client in order for you, the designer, to solve, thus... a Designer (for Communication).




Adj:
Excited - happy with a lot of energy
Pleased - satisfied
convivial - friendly
Iridescent - colorful
Insidious - harmful