Frankly Fridays - The Erosion of the Credit Hour

You are invited you to the first installment of a new OFE event series called

Frankly Fridays

Frank Conversation about Faculty Issues"honest as a cup of joe"

Friday, February 15^th, Friday
9:30-10:30 AM
Osprey Commons Faculty Lounge (Building 16, 4^th Floor)

Topic: The Erosion of the Credit Hour
Let us know you will be there: ofe@unf.edu

Have you ever had two students with the same list of courses and credit hours but with completely different skill levels?
Have you become worn by students questioning your grading by saying, “but I passed my writing course?”

Is a measure of “time in seat” useful, or should the focus be on other measures of student success?

Students accumulate credit hours for courses taken, although the original conception of the credit hour was not for students but for faculty. Two recent Chronicle commentaries about the legacy and value of the credit hour. With a push in higher education for efficiency and movement by the State of Florida to make higher education less expensive, the credit hour is under attack.

Come discuss how these issues impact UNF and faculty in Florida.
We will meet in the new Faculty Lounge on the 4^th floor of the new dining facility, Osprey Commons.
OFE will provide the coffee and bagels.

Let us know you will be there: ofe@unf.edu

What does a Credit Hour Represent If Not Time?

A new report out by the New America Foundation questions the logic and effects of the traditional definition of the credit hour. The report highlights several problems with the current model, one that uses time as a marker of progress. One convincing chart shows that students who have gained additional credit hours (from freshman to senior) do not necessarily perform better on standardized tests. Another issue addressed in the report is the influence of grade inflation on the interpretation of credit hours. For example, in 1961, only 15% of students received a letter grade of A in a college course. In recent years, the number has increased to 43%.
Recommendations to address the issue include changing the definition of the credit hour or going to a credential system, which would allow students to demonstrate learning despite the amount of time they spent accumulating that learning.
To read a summary of the report, read the report by the New America Foundation on their website.
http://education.newamerica.net/publications/policy/cracking_the_credit_hour
For the full report, visit the report website.
http://higheredwatch.newamerica.net/sites/newamerica.net/files/policydocs/Cracking_the_Credit_Hour_Sept5_0.pdf

Tell Students to Stop Studying?

Students can focus on wrong ideas, wrong study habits, and wrong motives. Instructors can provide clarity for students, help them focus on what they should be studying and why. In a recent Chronicle article, UNF's own David Jaffee warns faculty to avoid the wrong motivation trap often befuddling students, studying (only) for the exam.
Read more here.
http://chronicle.com/article/Stop-Telling-Students-to-Study/131622/

Sweeping Away "Academically Adrift"

In a recent Chronicle commentary, Alexander Austin explains some of the logical errors and statistical assumptions made by the authors of "Academically Adrift" that impact the far-reaching conclusions of the book.

It seems that the reliability (of student-level scores) of the Collegiate Learning Assessment, the test used to make the claim that 45% of students "failed to show significant (learning) gains" in their first two years of college, is unknown and likely in question. A lack of reliability could inflate the proportion of students who show "no significant gain" in learning.

What are your thoughts? If you would construct a test to determine if students were learning what you hoped they were learning in their first two years of college, what would be on the test?