Senate pushes for grade reporting
McLean Bennett
Issue date: 11/13/08 Section: News
Student Senate is in the process of drafting a letter to the university pushing for a universal midterm grade-reporting policy.
Professors are currently required to report midterm grades only to freshmen, but Senate is trying to urge the university to mandate reporting to all undergraduate students.
Aaron Wingad, director of the Senate Academic Affairs Commission and one of the chief authors of the letter, said after Monday's Senate meeting the issue dates back nearly a year. He added responses from faculty have been mixed.
"I think every student could benefit from getting that kind of feedback from their professor," Wingad said, "and also I think that will stimulate and act as like a catalyst to create the kind of learning environment that we want here on campus."
He said faculty response has been overall positive, but added some have been critical of the proposal because they feel upperclassmen should be responsible for their own grade.
Wingad said the issue is about more than just providing grades to students, however.
"I think a lot of it is about creating that relationship," he said. "There's a lot of intimidation that is inherently there between a student and a professor, and that (grade) can act as a catalyst to get over that intimidation."
Some professors are also concerned about the added workload that the universal grading policy would create, Charlier said. But she added that placing more burdens on professors' shoulders isn't the goal of the policy, and that she hopes if a universal grade-reporting policy is implemented that it will be user-friendly for faculty.
"I think that if we're going to mandate this, we have to make sure that there's an easy way for (professors) to do it," she said.
"We don't want to add to their workload, but we think this is necessary," she said. "The benefits outweigh the work."
Professors are currently required to report midterm grades only to freshmen, but Senate is trying to urge the university to mandate reporting to all undergraduate students.
Aaron Wingad, director of the Senate Academic Affairs Commission and one of the chief authors of the letter, said after Monday's Senate meeting the issue dates back nearly a year. He added responses from faculty have been mixed.
"I think every student could benefit from getting that kind of feedback from their professor," Wingad said, "and also I think that will stimulate and act as like a catalyst to create the kind of learning environment that we want here on campus."
He said faculty response has been overall positive, but added some have been critical of the proposal because they feel upperclassmen should be responsible for their own grade.
Wingad said the issue is about more than just providing grades to students, however.
"I think a lot of it is about creating that relationship," he said. "There's a lot of intimidation that is inherently there between a student and a professor, and that (grade) can act as a catalyst to get over that intimidation."
Some professors are also concerned about the added workload that the universal grading policy would create, Charlier said. But she added that placing more burdens on professors' shoulders isn't the goal of the policy, and that she hopes if a universal grade-reporting policy is implemented that it will be user-friendly for faculty.
"I think that if we're going to mandate this, we have to make sure that there's an easy way for (professors) to do it," she said.
"We don't want to add to their workload, but we think this is necessary," she said. "The benefits outweigh the work."
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