In this article we investigate Canadian university and college students' interpersonal conflicts and exposure to abuse and violence during their postsecondary studies and assess the emotional, social, and academic impact of these experiences. Our findings, based on a sample 1174 university and college students in Southwestern Ontario, revealed…

As class sizes increase, methods of assessments shift from costly traditional approaches (e.g. expert-graded writing assignments) to more economic and logistically feasible methods (e.g. multiple-choice testing, computer-automated scoring, or peer assessment). While each method of assessment has its merits, it is peer assessment in particular,…

The assignment of grades to students is discussed, and a grading process is recommended. The process begins with the separation of minimal and developmental objectives. Minimal objectives represent course outcomes that all students are expected to achieve; developmental objectives are more complex goals toward which students strive, but which few…

This paper considers whether high schools in competitive environments use grade inflation to attract and retain families, perhaps in addition to more constructive responses. Two measures of grade inflation are used: the cutoffs used by each school to assign a letter grade to a percent score and high school grade point average after controlling for…

Students responded well to the opportunity to create their own final examinations. (JH)

Student input into grading in the basic speech communication course can be accomplished through a peer evaluation system. Three student evaluators are assigned for every student speech. Speeches are given a quality score by the peer evaluators and by the instructor. Rating errors are minimized by assigning peer evaluators so that no…

This study attempted to determine the effects of two grading foci, emphasis on content vs. emphasis on grammar, on the reliability and level of grades awarded to English composition themes and the effects of annotation vs. no annotation on the reliability and level of grades awarded. (Author/RK)

A selected review of the effects of various grading systems on student motivation at the university level has been summarized and interpreted. Particular emphasis is devoted to contract grading and the identification of student characteristics, both personal and intellectual, that appear to interact favorably with this relatively new grading…

THE FEASIBILITY AND PRACTICABILITY OF USING A DIGITAL COMPUTER (IBM 1620) TO GRADE PHYSICS LABORATORY REPORTS WAS INVESTIGATED. IN ORDER TO TEST THE VALUE OF USING THE COMPUTER, TWO TYPES OF COMPUTER PROGRAMS WERE WRITTEN FOR EACH OF FOUR EXPERIMENTS. ONE PROGRAM COMPLETELY GRADED THE REPORTS BY ENTERING THE STUDENT'S DATA AND HIS CALCULATED…

One course in persuasion reviews six theories of attitude change--five based on Otto Lerbinger's designs for persuasive communication (cognitive design, stimulus response design, motivational design, personality design, and social design), and a sixth (perceptual design) developed by the instructors. Instruction in each includes a variety of…

Seven major kinds of "bad" or "dishonest" marking systems much used by English teachers ar" briefly described. English teachers are urged to be more aware of recent publications which evaluate various marking systems. (BN)