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Work in Progress: Examining Engineering Seniors Students’ Perception of Justice and Fairness of Grading Practices

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Conference

2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Location

Virtual Conference

Publication Date

July 26, 2021

Start Date

July 26, 2021

End Date

July 19, 2022

Conference Session

Studies of Classroom Assessment: Exam Wrappers, Equitable Grading, Test Anxiety, and Use of Reflection

Tagged Division

Educational Research and Methods

Page Count

9

DOI

10.18260/1-2--38154

Permanent URL

https://strategy.asee.org/38154

Download Count

268

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Paper Authors

biography

Kaela M. Martin Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott

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Kaela Martin is an Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott Campus. She graduated from Purdue University with a PhD in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering and is interested in increasing classroom engagement and student learning.

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biography

Todd M. Fernandez Georgia Institute of Technology

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Todd is a lecturer in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. His research interests are engineering students beliefs about knowledge and education and how those beliefs interact with the engineering education experience.

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biography

Richard Mangum Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott

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Richard T. Mangum is an assistant professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott Campus. He graduated from Texas Tech University with a PhD in Technical Communication and Rhetoric. He is interested in helping engineering students discover the relevancy of technical communication in their academic pursuits and future career paths.

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Abstract

This work-in-progress paper reports preliminary results about engineering students’ perceptions of the justice and fairness in grading. The paper quantitatively compares students’ perceptions between a specifications graded and traditionally graded capstone class and analyzes qualitative comments about students’ overall perceptions of grading. Specifications grading is a system of assigning grades primarily characterized by grading each assignment as pass or no-pass (i.e., fail) and is proposed as a way to increase students’ learning, motivation, and autonomy while also modeling real (engineering) workplace practices. The results of this work in progress suggest a number of interesting findings primarily the difference between the quantitative and qualitative findings. The quantitative results suggest a positive perception of specification grading while the qualitative results suggest a more negative outlook. Future work is needed to better understand this difference.

Martin, K. M., & Fernandez, T. M., & Mangum, R. (2021, July), Work in Progress: Examining Engineering Seniors Students’ Perception of Justice and Fairness of Grading Practices Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. 10.18260/1-2--38154

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