since courses often have more graded work in the form of assignments than as exams or essays (i.e., there may be only a few exams and one course grade, versus weekly assignments). On the other hand, one might expect that students would be more likely to appeal more significant grades such as exams and the overall course grade because these grades hold more weight, with the assumption being that students are more concerned about their grades and not their understanding of the material. The results shown in Table 7.2 indicate that this assumption may not be accurate: Of the respondents, most (20/26) felt that their grades are rarely unfair, and 0 students felt that their grades were very often unfair.
Table 7.2 Student responses to the question “How often do you feel/believe that your grade on an assignment, quiz, exam, or essay is unfair?”
Response Frequency
Never 1
Rarely (~once per semester) 20 Somewhat often (>once per semester) 5 Very often (≥once per semester) 0
Tables 7.3-7.5 below display the responses for three questions related to instructor feedback. The majority of students felt that their instructors only provided them with detailed feedback somewhat often (17/26), and responded that detailed feedback causes them to appeal grades less often (15/26). The timing of feedback (whether students receive grades or feedback quickly after turning in an assignment) did not influence respondents’ decision to appeal a grade (15/26). These results suggest that if an instructor takes the time to provide detailed feedback, students may be more accepting of their grades.
Table 7.3 Student responses to the question “How often do your instructors provide you with detailed feedback on assignments?”
Response Frequency
Never 0
Rarely (~once per semester) 7 Somewhat often (detailed feedback for some classes/assignments) 17 Very often (every class or nearly every
assignment) 2
Table 7.4 Student responses to the question “Does the feedback you receive influence your decision to ask for a higher grade?”
Response Frequency
Yes – I (want to) ask for a change in grade less when receiving detailed
feedback 15
Yes – I (want to) ask for a change in grade more when receiving detailed
feedback 1
No – The feedback I receive does not influence whether I want to appeal a
grade 6
Not sure 4
Table 7.5 Student responses to the question “Does the timing of grading/feedback have an influence on your decision to ask for a higher grade?”
Response Frequency
Yes – I (want to) ask for a change in grade less when grades are posted
quickly 5
Yes – I (want to) ask for a change in grade more when grades are posted
quickly 3
No – Timing does not influence my decision to ask for a higher grade 15
Not sure 3
Table 7.6 shows the results of questions about the instructor’s response to grade appeals. When a student asks for a higher grade or clarification on an assignment or exam, the instructor may respond with either an automatic decision or a discussion. For most students surveyed, their experience with appealing a grade “usually” resulted in a discussion rather than an automatic decision (15/26). The response to this question shows that professors already have discussions with students about their grades, as opposed to automatically deciding whether to change a grade, which is the first step towards incorporating grade appeals as a learning tool.
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Table 7.6 Student responses to the question “When you ask your professor for a higher grade on an assignment or exam, how often does it result in an automatic
decision (change or no change) vs. a conversation?”
Response Frequency
Very often/always an automatic
decision 1
Usually an automatic decision 0 Results are 50% automatic decision,
50% discussion 6
Usually a discussion 15
Very often/always a discussion 1
(no response) 3
When asked about which outcome they preferred (discussion or automatic decision), most students said they liked to discuss the grade with the instructor to better understand why they were wrong. Only one student responded saying that they preferred a discussion because the instructor would not view it as a ‘handout’ or free grade change (i.e., receiving a better grade automatically without the student having to redo their work). Some example responses to the question “Do you prefer one of the results from the previous question—the instructor making a decision directly following your appeal, or a discussion about the assignment/exam and grade? Why?” are:
• I prefer a discussion to occur. When I ask for a higher grade, it is because I believe I followed a rubric or answered a question correctly despite losing points Sometimes, it is a simple error (such as counting up points incorrectly). Other times, I learn that I did not understand the question properly and then I accept that I do not deserve those points OR I explain my thought process and the teacher realizes the question was a poor question. On the rare occasion, a teacher does not care and refuses to even discuss the test/paper.
• I don’t have a preference. It depends on the circumstance. If it’s an obvious, difficult to refute mistake, I don’t want to discuss it (I just want the points). If it’s subjective, I prefer to discuss it.
• I would prefer to have a conversation than an automatic decision. I’m at the point in my academic career where I want to understand exactly why something I did was incorrect and how to not make that mistake again rather than be awarded points just for asking for them.
• Discussion because it’s normally not just me with the issue.
• Discussion. Even a quick talk can help clear up a lot. If no feedback is provided, I often don’t understand what I did wrong. If feedback is provided, it still may be unclear to me. A quick follow-up with the TA/
professor usually clears this up immediately or with a little more work on my part (i.e., hear their opinions and then look at my notes).
• I like to discuss so that I don’t seem as if I’m looking for a handout.
• I prefer a discussion over any sort of direct results because if a grade gets changed that quickly, it just reiterates grade inflation and encourages students to learn simply for the grade rather than the knowledge.
• I would prefer a discussion because then I know how the teacher feels and what I can work on specifically.
• Discussion. Better clarify what I and my professor can do better in the future.
• A discussion makes it easier to understand the perspective of the professor on how/why they graded the way they did and it gives you the chance to better support your case as to why asking for appeal.
Especially if a rubric is vague or if neither a rubric or comments are provided.
Tables 7.7-7.9 present the results of three questions related to rubrics and other assessment tools. Half of the students responded that they are less likely to appeal a grade when they receive tools such as rubrics. However, rubrics and other assessment tools were only provided “very often” for 23%
of students (6/26), and these tools were “always” or “very often” helpful for only 8% (2/26). Overall, students felt that detailed rubrics and assessment tools resulted in them requesting a grade change less often. Based on these results, there seems to be room for improvement in the frequency with which rubrics are used in these students’ classes, and the helpfulness of the rubrics, in order to decrease the amount of grade appeals due to confusion.
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Table 7.7 Student responses to the question “How often does your professor provide you with an assignment tool (e.g., rubric) to help clarify/justify points on
an assignment/essay?”
Response Frequency
Very often- rubrics (or other tools) for
every class 6
Somewhat often- rubrics (or other tools) for some classes 17
Rarely 3
Never 0
Table 7.8 Student responses to the question “Are the rubrics (or other assessment tools) you have been given helpful? (In other words, do they contain sufficient information about expectations, or just vague qualifications like ‘poor, good, great,
and excellent’?)”
Response Frequency
Always/very often helpful – clear and
detailed rubrics 2
Helpful somewhat often – rubrics with
some detail 18
Rarely – vague rubrics 6
Never – Rubrics are not at all helpful 0
(Never given a rubric) 0
Table 7.9 Student responses to the question “Do the tools your professors provide from the previous question influence your decision to ask for a higher grade?”
Response Frequency
Yes – I (want to) ask for a change in grade less when receiving tools such as
rubrics 13
Yes – I (want to) ask for a change in grade more when receiving tools such
as rubrics 2
No – Assessment tools do not influence whether I want to appeal a grade 8
Not sure 3
The survey also asked students to give descriptions of their own grade appeal experiences. Several students responded that they felt that the instructor did not clearly write the assignment or that there was a mistake with the grade. However, many students responded that they requested a
grade change because they wanted to understand the correct answer and that the instructor was very often receptive to the discussion. Selected responses to the question “If you’ve asked an instructor to change a grade(s) while at Virginia Tech, please explain your perspective of the process.
(Thoughts upon receiving the initial grade, how the instructor responded when asked, thoughts about instructor response)” are:
• Most professors are open to the process. However, the professors response varies. Some professors are open to acknowledging a mistake and change the grade (or explaining the correct answer if I legitimately got it wrong). Some teachers are open to discussing the situation, but refuse to change the grade no matter what. Rarely, professors refuse to look at it at all (this only happened once to me).
• I only ask a professor to change a grade when I honestly believe what I’ve done is correct and that it will clearly affect my overall grade.
Usually, I’m confused at first with why I was wrong. Sometimes written feedback clears this up, othertimes it does not. If I can’t understand why I was wrong, I feel fine approaching the professor, explaining what I did, and then listening to the correction. I will often push until I can fully understand their reasoning, though I won’t really argue for points.
I care significantly more about understanding the problem than I do about the grade.
• I’ve never asked a professor for a higher grade.
• I felt that a couple questions on an assignment weren’t worded fairly and thought he should not count those ones.
• There is a mistake when grading The adding number of each section is not correct. I asked the professor after class with my exam paper, and he checked it’s just a calculation mistake while grading.
• They have always been respectful to my views.
• no for grade but for an exam one of my teacher encourage us to go to him and explain our rational for answering problems to get more points back which I really liked.
• I want to understand why my viewpoint or understanding isn’t the correct response.
• I got a 89.67 I believe as a final grade and asked if he could round up so I’d get the A. He rounded up to a 89.7.
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These responses show that students are receptive to using evaluations (i.e., grades) and feedback to enhance their understanding of their mistakes.