SUNIL CHOPRASENIOR ASSOCIATE DEAN: CURRICULUM AND TEACHING

Some Best Practices

• Syllabus– Clearly specify grading policies

– Specify etiquette and honor code

• Use of Blackboard

• The first class– Lay out etiquette and honor code standards

– Ensure use of name plates

– Select student liaison

Some Best Practices

• A typical class– Ensure name plates. Call students by name.

– Class should start and end on time

– Tell your audience what you are going to tell them. Tell them again. Tell them what you told them.

– Make an effort o involve the entire class. Use a mix of cold and warm calling.

• Feedback– Midterm feedback, final feedback, use of student liaison

Some Best Practices

• Midterms and finals– Avoid timed, closed book take home exams

– Ensure “pens down” time is strictly adhered to

– Ensure reasonable opportunity for students to review exams / papers up to two weeks into new quarter

• Grading and re-grade requests– We are aiming for no more than 40% A’s in core classes and no

more than 45% A’s in electives. We are also aiming for between 5-10% C’s with core classes closer to 10%

– Follow re-grade policy precisely

Policies

• Honor Code

• Code of Classroom Etiquette

• Auditing

• Confidentiality

• Grading

• Regrading

Honor Code

• Honor Code may be found online:kellogg.northwestern.edu/stu_aff/honor/hcode12.htm

• All Kellogg students have agreed to the honor code.

• Clarify rules in thefirst class of the term.

• Apparent violations should not be handled by the instructor

• Report violations to one of the following:– Assistant Dean, Michele Rogers

– Student chair of the Honor Code Committee

– Senior Associate Dean: Curriculum and Teaching, Sunil Chopra

Code of Classroom Etiquette

Code of Classroom Etiquette may be found online:kellogg.northwestern.edu/stu_aff/honor/etiquette.htm

• Attendance

• Punctuality

• Exiting and entering

• Disruptive behavior (including laptop usage)

• Respect of facilities

Set rules in advance

Auditing

• If class is “closed” (i.e., students on waiting list), no auditing.

• If class is “open,” at professor’s discretion.

Confidentiality

Maintain confidentiality of students’ grades.

• Do not post grade lists from which one might identify students’ grades (e.g., alphabetical).

• Do not leave graded assignments in publicly accessible places.

• Do not divulge grades over the phone (the students have Web access to their grades when posted by the registrar)

• Need students’ written permission in order to divulge any information about their academic record (grades, etc.).

Grading

• Grades serve as incentives.

• Consistent (although not necessarily identical) norms across instructors of the same course.

• Goal is no more than 40% A’s in core classes and no more than 45% A’s in electives. Between 5-10% C’s with closer to 10% for the core.

Re-grading

• 10 working days to submit it for re-grading.

• Entire work may be reviewed.

• Submissions and replies in writing.

• Professor should reply within 20 working days.

• Student has five working days to submit an appeal.

• Professor should re-grade the work within five working days.

• This concludes the grading appeal process.

Plagiarism

• Please remind the students about plagiarism standards outlined in the document

• All students in a group are responsible for what is in a document they submit as a group

• Plagiarism can be checked using Blackboard

Teacher-Course Evaluations

Teaching Assessment• Learning and academic value• Instructor enthusiasm• Organization/clarity• Group interaction• Breadth of coverage• Examinations/grading• Assignments/readings• Overall rating: Class• Overall rating: Instructor

Teacher-Course Evaluations

Background Course Characteristics

• Difficulty

• Workload

• Pace

• Accessibility

• Honor Code

• Reason for taking class

Teacher-Course Evaluations

Focus

• Overall rating: Instructor

• Overall rating: Class

• Learning

• Difficulty

• Workload

Overall Class:Some Univariate Results  Coefficient T-statistic Adjusted R2

Registrants 0.01 8.2 0.03

Learning 0.85 79.8 0.75

Enthusiasm 0.75 62.5 0.65

Clarity 0.85 79.8 0.75

Groups 0.90 47.0 0.51

Coverage 1.06 68.0 0.69

Exams 0.80 47.8 0.52

Readings 0.94 68.3 0.69

Difficulty 0.18 8.0 0.03

Workload 0.16 8.2 0.03

Pace 0.27 9.3 0.04

Accessible -0.12 -0.3 0.00

Honor Code 5.04 7.7 0.03

Reason -5.93 -14.7 0.09

% of As -0.01 -0.1 0.00

% of Cs -1.68 -3.2 0.00

% ofPs -0.53 -2.2 0.00

Overall Instructor:Some Univariate Results  Coefficient T-statistic Adjusted R2

Registrants 0.01 9.4 0.04

Learning 1.10 83.4 0.77

Enthusiasm 0.90 72.8 0.71

Clarity 1.01 95.1 0.81

Groups 1.00 45.1 0.49

Coverage 1.24 75.2 0.73

Exams 0.94 51.0 0.55

Readings 0.98 53.7 0.58

Difficulty 0.19 7.3 0.02

Workload 0.13 5.6 0.01

Pace 0.28 8.5 0.03

Accessible 0.51 21.1 0.17

Honor Code 0.80 22.3 0.19

Reason 0.01 0.5 0.00

% of As -0.16 -1.1 0.00

% of Cs -1.68 -2.9 0.00

% ofPs -0.76 -2.8 0.00

Overall Class/Instructor:Some Multivariate Results (t-statistics)

  Coef. t-stat. Coef. t-stat.

Learning 0.77 76.1 0.41 25.4

Enthusiasm 0.10 14.3 0.30 27.5

Clarity 0.24 29.4 0.49 37.3

Difficulty – 5 -0.05 -3.1 0.04 1.6

(Difficulty – 5)2 -0.01 -2.8 -0.00 -0.3

Workload - 5 -0.37 -2.6 -0.10 -4.6

(Workload – 5)2 0.02 4.5 0.01 2.3

Accessible 0.00 0.9 0.03 3.3

Reason 0.01 1.6 -0.01 -1.2

Student Perceptions

Student Survey

• Cold calling (student accountability)– 56% too little

– 4% too much

• Quantitative material– 30% too little

– 4% too much

• Group work– 2% too little

– 65% too much

• 70% felt that lack of student etiquette detracts from the class

Opportunities for Teaching Support

• Structured observation

• Video taping of classes

Good Luck!