How Is This Class Graded?

I had a couple of coworkers over for dinner last night and my friend Sandra came across my class materials for the course I am taking at USM. Sandra and I are both corporate trainers and we share similar ideas about learning in the corporate world. She pulled out the syllabus for my graduate class on facilitating adult education and started reviewing the 14-page document. As she poured through all the details, she asked how the class was graded. The syllabus clearly outlined the assignments and required presentations but had no information about grades. She looked up from her reading and asked, "How is this class graded?" I just smiled back. She caught on and said, "This is the kind I class I like!"

Many classes provide a syllabus where the focal point is what the learner needs to accomplish to get a grade. It takes the focus off what the course is looking instruct and places on behaviors needed to get a certain reward. As a corporate trainer, I am used to the idea of measuring learning. In business, anything that can be measured will be measured. There is a need for this constant measurement and I don't mean to imply that it is not a vital part of the job. The item that Sandra and I were noticing with this syllabus is that it allows the learner to focus on the learning.

The graduate course is open to learners with various backgrounds. There are no prerequisites for taking the class. I came into the class with several years experience facilitating classes for adults. Other classmates came in with more experience. Some were trying this for the first time. There were standard texts that we needed to read but there was also the opportunity to select a text that you could share with the class. We learned from each other and worked to progress our individual skills.

This provides the professor with a challenge to "grade" the efforts of each learner. Do you set one benchmark level that each person needs to achieve to earn an "A" grade? This makes the course too easy for the most experienced or too difficult for the less-experienced. Do you set individual benchmarks for learners to achieve? This could mean that the most skilled person could get a lower grade since they did not show as much improvement as the person that is trying this for the first time.

The decision not to focus on the grade takes the focus away from comparing one learner to another. It allows the learner to focus on their own progress and effort. This is a true learner-centric approach that my coworker and I rarely get to experience in the corporate world. It makes for a refreshing and inspiring approach to education.