Grades serve many purposes in undergraduate courses. For example, they motivate student participation and engagement, indicate to students their progress on understanding course material throughout the semester, and at the conclusion of a course summarize overall achievement of the learning outcomes. For lower level courses that serve as prerequisites for upper level required and elective courses, they should also indicate to students and instructors preparedness for tackling future related courses. 

Are we sending the right signals to students, instructors, and departments with course grades? Join colleagues for a lunch discussion on the topic of grades in lower level courses on May 1st, noon-1pm. This may be of particular interest to you if you:

• Teach an ENGRD course and are thinking about the signals sent by course grades.
• Use ENGRD course grades as part of affiliation decisions in your department.
• Teach an upper level course and want to discuss student preparedness.
• Have concerns about grade inflation and whether it’s impacting our students (or course evaluations!).
• Have looked at the university grading system lately and wonder how it applies today.

Please let us know if you can join the discussion on Wednesday, 5/1, noon-1pm.