In the class sessions of week 10 (March 22 and 24) we asked students the following questions:
1. Do you think you are doing more or less work (or the same amount) than you would be doing in an equivalent class?
2. Do you think you are doing more work or less work (or the same amount) than you would be doing for the grade that you expect to receive?
On the Thursday (March 24), we also asked the following additional question:
3. Do you think that the work you are doing is of better or worse quality (or about the same) than that you would be doing in an equivalent class?
Our interest in knowing your answers, which were collected and submitted anonymously, has to do with the relationship between grading systems and motivation. Normally, grades are justified in part as a means of motivating students and getting them to produce their best work. The fear is that contract grading does not fulfil the same function. On the other hand, it may be that, freed from grade anxiety, students may in fact do at least as well as under other grading systems.
Summary
Q1. A strong majority (72%) of students thought they were doing the same amount (49%) or more (23%) work than they would be doing in equivalent classes. Only 28% felt they were doing less.
Q2. A majority (59%) of students thought they were doing the same amount (47%) or more (12%) work than they would expect for their contracted grade. 41% felt they were doing less.
Q3. A strong majority (71%) of students thought they were doing the same quality (24%) or better (48%) work than they would be doing in equivalent classes. Only 29% felt they were doing worse quality work.
Response
1. Do you think you are doing more or less work (or the same amount) than you would be doing in an equivalent class?
[NB some answers were along the lines of “about the same or a little more” or “about the same or a little less,” in which case we counted them in more than one category]
| More Work | The Same | Less Work |
|---|---|---|
| “I find myself doing less work in this class, but enjoy the work much more.” | ||
| “The amount of work in this class is consistent and doesn’t increase as much.” | ||
| “Very time-consuming but mostly enjoyable.” | ||
| “Same # of words; easier writing; more reading.” | ||
| “At the beginning of the course I was doing more though. This course has been consistently the same amount of work all term, but probably a little less overall. | ||
| “I think it’s less work than I expect and it is pretty interesting learning this way.” | ||
| “Comparatively I am doing more work in terms of having to write weekly instead of monthly essays that I have to do for my other Arts courses.” | ||
| “Readings are heavier than other classes; assignments are easier / less work.” | ||
| “I think equivalent amount of work, but in different ways.” | ||
| “Less work, however it’s more critical thinking / application.” | ||
| “With the exception that I must put time in for studying (for tests) in other class; I don’t dedicate that time for this class.” | ||
| “Less work in terms of time spent and mental stress.” | ||
| “I feel like I spend about the same amount of time on this class but the consistency is reassuring. I know exactly what I have to do every week, therefore it’s a lot less stressful.” | ||
| “I feel like I’m doing more work than in my other electives just because of the length of the novels.” | ||
| “More work (time wise) but less stress.” | ||
| “I feel like I am doing the same amount of work and putting in the same amount of time. However day to day work is the same but in terms of big assignments I put in less work because we don’t have big essays to do, except the midterm/final.” | ||
| “While the work for my other classes requires me to be less consistent with my study time, reading the books requires a constant effort that I have to make to not fall behind. Overall, I spend more time for this class considering the books take a long time to read.” | ||
| “RMST202 is not difficult but it requires large chunks of time for reading.” | ||
| “The contract allows you to predict the time commitment.” | ||
| “Reading is more time consuming but better than writing essays.” | ||
| “I feel I am doing significantly more reading (which is expected because it’s a lit course). Sometimes I find the length of the books to be a lot, but they overall balance out.” | ||
| “I think the amount of reading is more than other modules I would have taken, but since I don’t have to sit and take notes as closely as I would with an academic text, I think it’s not too different from most social science workloads.” | ||
| “It’s obviously more reading, but it doesn’t feel like more work, because the readings I have to do for other classes are more exhausting.” | ||
| “I do the work that we need to do, but sometimes careless.” |
2. Do you think you are doing more work or less work (or the same amount) than you would be doing for the grade that you expect to receive?
[NB some answers were along the lines of “about the same or a little more” or “about the same or a little less,” in which case we counted them in more than one category]
| More Work | The Same | Less Work |
|---|---|---|
| “This is less work than I would expect for my grade, but I find it more encouraging.” | ||
| “I don’t feel like there are enough guidelines with the blog posts so students could write anything.” | ||
| “Less work than I expect but not by a lot.” | ||
| “IDK. Books take a while to read but the writing stuff is less. | ||
| “Probably a little more work but also it is really fun.” | ||
| “Only because we don’t have any large essays/tests.” | ||
| “I think I’m doing a little less work than I expected for my grade, but I think I am getting more out of it.” | ||
| “I definitely don’t feel like this is an ‘easy A’ class. I put a lot of effort in every week and feel like I’m working for my grade.” | ||
| “Less stress with knowing your grade.” | ||
| “For my grade I feel like I am committing more time/work, but it’s very clear what I am supposed to do so it’s not concerning to me.” | ||
| “I probably do not deserve an A+ but it will help me get into grad school.” | ||
| “I feel productive when thinking about the goal I’ve set in the beginning of the term.” | ||
| “The only difference is there is the same day to day but less major assignments.” | ||
| “Maybe a bit more leeway would be good (reduce over all texts by one; gives more time to close read in class, too). | ||
| “It is consistent work, and constant engagement.” | ||
| “I feel like it is difficult to compare my efforts in this course to other courses because I spend more time reading and reflecting than actually getting my homework done.” |
3. Do you think that the work you are doing is of better or worse quality (or about the same) than that you would be doing in an equivalent class?
[NB some answers were along the lines of “about the same or a little more” or “about the same or a little less,” in which case we counted them in more than one category]
| Better Quality | The Same | Worse Quality |
|---|---|---|
| “I’m doing better work than usual by engaging with the course readings each week.” | ||
| “I’m doing better quality work than before, but less in terms of quantity with the blogposts and comments.” | ||
| “Better quality work because it feels more honest.” | ||
| “I like the quality of work I’m able to produce. I enjoy the flexibility and I think tht helps with my quality of production.” | ||
| “It’s interesting that the contract is meant to motivate us. In reality, every class we know what grade we can get if we put the work in. We’re just dumb students.” | ||
| “Much better because there is meaning and substance.” | ||
| “Worse since my grade is guaranteed as long as I write something, but books I liked I tried harder.” | ||
| “Better work, because the novels are interesting.” | ||
| “I feel like having to meet the word quota causes me to ramble, so worse?” | ||
| “Depends on the week but because I have to fulfil contract if I’m not having a good week my work will be like awful haha.” | ||
| “The quality of my blogs would be better if it was graded. However, it would be more stressful. I enjoy the freedom of choosing to write what I want.” | ||
| “Grading contract is nice.” | ||
| “The freedom of the blogs results in better quality work.” | ||
| “More freedom in blogposts, can speak more freely but quality may be less.” | ||
| “My quality of blog posts are done with the thinking of getting completed since it’s not individually marked.” | ||
| “Worse than I do for assignments that are graded but equivalent to assignments worth very little or that are for completion!” | ||
| “I have been doing better work than usual because weekly readings help me structure my time and dedicate enough time to focus on the readings and blogs.” | ||
| “I really enjoy this class and feel like it motivates me to produce better work.” | ||
| “Better with books that I like and am interest in diving in more but less in books that didn’t particularly stick with me.” | ||
| “I think the work isn’t better or worse, it’s more constant than other classes but it’s smaller amounts of work–I prefer it but I think it would depend on what kind of assignments you like.” | ||
| “I like the grading structure.” | ||
| “Slightly worse than I would like but improving, just a different/new way of thinking.” | ||
| “I would probably say I produce less quality work. Solely because the blog posts are completion only, I focus more on getting it done than doing it well.” | ||
| “Quality of the work is definitely a lot more/better! I feel like I am learning more in this class than in lots of my other classes.” | ||
| “I feel that the workload is heavy in terms of reading but it doesn’t necessarily mean the quality is less, because the blog posts alone aren’t hard. It’s the getting there by reading a new book each week on top of other four classes I have.” |
Thanks for sharing. I love seeing all the comments from students. They add a lot more context (the stats is good for a quick snapshot).
I would love to view the course syllabus too and learn how you set up the course for this.