Grading

Again I don't understand why there isn't a better system for these classes. I'll outline my major improvement to the way I would run classes when/if I'm a professor.

Students grade their own papers. That's right, students will do the work of the assignment and then on the day it's due I'll post the grading criterial and the students will get two days to hand in their graded assignments.

My job as the professor would then be to approve or disapprove the grade. If I disapprove of the grade the student gets a 50% of the grade they submitted. If I approve of the grade they gave themself then the student gets that grade.

Not only do I think this will provide students with a valuable lesson on grading assignments, but they'll really realize the value of the work they put in. Also I think the 50% part forces you to be a little modest on the grade you give yourself, so as not to really lose points. Of course if you low-ball yourself chances are I'd give points where points are due, but I wouldn't count on that as a good strategy.

This came about because honestly I can probably tell the grade range a student will receive just by glancing what they hand it. The hard part is assigning an actual number value to that work. Most often I spend lots of time developing formulas to make sure that students grades will all be equal, even, and fair. If the student gives themself the grade it has to be fair to them, they can complain that Jenny or Johnny got 5 more points on the same assignment than they did, but they gave themselves the grade so it's their fault for not giving themselves more points.

Schools

Sorry about the CMU letter Brendan, they are really missing out on a great researcher and a hard worker; it's their loss. (Oh, and Lime Cat is not pleased about this either) I suppose this means I'll be hearing something from them soon as well. Right now I'm a little uneasy no matter what the answer is, a lot more things are depending on my decision with this than I had orginally known.

At least I know that Mike McCabe will keep looking like Janet Jackson long after I make my decision.