@mattblaze@SteveBellovin@adamshostack Showing how out of touch I am. Last time I graded paper was maybe 30 years ago. On the other hand, if you switch to industry, you get a similar problem -- ordering team members on the equivalent of a bell curve every year. Pick your poison...
@huitema Pick your Poisson (distribution)?
The nice thing about being at Bell Labs and AT&T Labs Research was that I could prosper without being demoted to management.
Now the boss fight part, where I discover that two students are on the roster under completely different names from the ones they submitted their work under, and I have no idea which one is which.
@mattblaze This sounds like the opening scene in a thriller where the professor starts chasing down increasingly fake identities only to end up targeted by government assassins and eventually saved by aliens.
While it's not for every teacher, class, or school, I've found moving away from traditional grading has reduced stress for me and my students. Or also seems to greatly increase the learning of useful material for many of my students by allowing them to focus on what is most important to them.
@FantasticalEconomics Because I don't actually run the university, I don't have the power to do that. And I want my students to be able to do things like, you know, graduate.
I'd look into ungrading a bit more before making that claim. It's not about getting rid of grades, so much as deemphasizing them, and I'm almost certain you have the power to institute it in your classes.
Again, it's not for everyone. But it certainly can help with the end of semester grading blues!
@adamshostack@mattblaze Current, very near-final plans are for me to retire in a year, and teach only a seminar class (with no exams) in the fall.
After that? Writing (mostly legal stuff, though I have two more technical books planned), photography, travel, family stuff, etc.
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