Absolute vs. Relative Grading System: Pros, Cons, and Experiences

[kuruman]

I mean the second- for example, each semester we have approximately 200 students enrolled in Intro Physics I (PHY 221 is the course number). PHY 221 usually has 4 independent sections taught at different days and times to accommodate the various scheduling requirements of students. The lecture component is independently taught by different instructors.

This also is the situation for Physics 2 (PHY 222), and calculus-based physics (PHY 241 and PHY 242).

For all of these "Gen-Ed" STEM courses, instructors are given a list of topics to be covered by our State's Education Department, but the list is fuzzy- there are (say) 15 different topics and each instructor is required to cover at least 80% of those topics. Consequently, each section will cover (somewhat) different topics in (somewhat) different order. As a specific example, in my Physics 2 courses I include a lecture on eyes and vision (and optical illusions!) within the "optics" sequence.

That's an interesting way of doing things. Are the labs that go with each section also separate?

If I were you department chair, I would ask the department Curriculum Committee to review the material taught in all multiple-course sections and come up with a mandatory list of topics to be covered in all lecture sections and exams and a second, elective list to be covered in class for enrichment but not on exams at the discretion of the lecturer. In other words, sharpen the fuzziness in the State's Education Department list.

This would be a guarantee to the client departments, e.g. engineering, that their students will acquire the physics background that they expect them to have in their engineering classes. It would also be a guarantee to the students that they will be exposed to and be given the opportunity to learn the same material no matter whose section they enroll in.

Disclaimer
Don't offer this suggestion to your department Chair unless you are ready to be saddled with the task.

 

[Andy Resnick]

That's an interesting way of doing things. Are the labs that go with each section also separate?

Yes- in our program, the labs are entirely separate- separate instructors, separate grading, no correlation between enrollment in a particular a lecture section and a particular lab section (which causes me problems when trying to set up small groups).

If I were you department chair, I would ask the department Curriculum Committee to review the material taught in all multiple-course sections and come up with a mandatory list of topics to be covered in all lecture sections and exams and a second, elective list to be covered in class for enrichment but not on exams at the discretion of the lecturer. In other words, sharpen the fuzziness in the State's Education Department list.

I am 100% opposed to this. I take academic freedom seriously; it is a 'hill I am willing to die on'.