Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to determine whether students perceive grade inflation as a problem. It questions whether differences exist in perceptions based upon gender and grade point average (GPA). Design/methodology/approach: Previously validated scales were used to assess perceptions. The sample included 108 full-time…

Scholars have argued that grade inflation is pervasive throughout colleges and universities and that it is presently at an all-time high. Inflation is, however, a temporal concept: it is theoretically impossible for grades to keep increasing on a fixed scale. In this article we examine a related, though empirically distinct, phenomenon: the…

The COVID-19 pandemic required adaptation to a new learning environment creating challenges for students and instructors. A reduction in student-teacher contact and the lack of supervision should have led to a decline in students' academic performance. Nonetheless, studies report increases in grades during the pandemic. Yet, limited information is…

This article discusses concerns raised by the Office for Students (OfS) and other policy actors regarding perceived grade inflation in undergraduate degree classifications in England. I employ a desert-based justice philosophical framework to argue that the criticisms made by the OfS can be understood in light of the position that degree…

The authors examine the impact of a new online learning system on student performance in a core finance course required of all business majors. They find that the online learning system significantly reduces the number of students that withdraw from the course prior to course completion. Additionally, the benefits of a lower withdrawal rate…

This paper examines the continual increase in the proportion of "good" honour degrees awarded by UK universities since the mid-2000s. This trend has brought with it the charge of "grade inflation" that may reflect falling standards in UK higher education. This issue has been raised in the national press and in government which…

The purpose of this study was to empirically examine the grade distributions of proctored and unproctored exams in an online learning environment. The authors statistically compared exam scores and time to complete exams for proctored and unproctored exams in two online courses. Student data were collected from an online section of introductory…

Game-based constructivist learning has gained considerable attention as educational institutions aim to move from traditional instructional teaching to interactive and collaborative methods. The question is less asked of "whether" games should be used in teaching but rather "how" games should be used to create deep learning in…

Standards-based grading, in which grading should be designed to communicate to students their current level of mastery with regards to well-articulated standards, is becoming popular at the K-12 level. As yet, the literature addressing standards-based grading at the university level is scarce. In this paper, I document my attempts to put into…

Research is available on the graduation rates among primarily on-line institutions and traditional universities, but not much on the effect of on-line classes within a university setting. According to Pew Research Center surveys conducted in spring 2011, 89% of four-year public colleges and universities offered online classes, and 46% of recent…

At Saudi universities, there was a sudden shift from face-to-face instruction to distance learning and assessment in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. This study explored the status of online exams in language, linguistics, and translation courses in the first two semesters of the Pandemic (Spring 2020 and Fall 2020). Analysis of faculty…

Recently published evidence of limited learning among American college students confirms the damage done when students, faculty and institutions pursue interests that conflict with the educational process. The "disengagement compact" in which faculty tacitly trade lenient workloads and grading for higher student evaluation of teaching…

Statistics suggest the prevalence of grade inflation nationwide, and researchers perform many analyses on student grades at both university and college levels. This analysis focuses on a one-credit library instruction course for undergraduate students at a large public university. The studies examine thirty semester GPAs and the percentages of As…

This project reports the results of two studies that investigated the impact on course evaluations of using partial credit iterative responding (PCIR) with the Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique (IF-AT) forms on summative course assessments. This project also quantifies grade inflation from utilizing different PCIR schemes and documents the…

Relatively inexpensive studies that go beyond the boundaries of individual institutions have considerable attraction, particularly at a time when resources are under significant constraint. These studies can be viewed as existing under the rather larger umbrella of "supra-institutional research". Three examples illustrate the argument…