Site simulates grades for classes
Site simulates grades for classes
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
When shopping classes, Yale students usually rely on word of mouth to find out what kind of grades a professor gives.
But now a student-run Web site launched this shopping period, Gradifi.com, promises to provide a more statistically sound method of determining the impact certain classes have on grade-point averages, based on students’ previous grades in other classes and the grades received by students of similar academic profiles.
Gradifi.com is the brainchild of Dan Loewenherz ’09, who said he wanted to give Yale students more information as they pick classes — namely, grades. The response to Gradifi among Yale students and professors has been mixed, with some saying they think it would be valuable to see the grade distribution and others citing concerns that students would not provide accurate information. In response to Gradifi, University administrators said students are already given enough information to choose courses without needing to know grades.
Loewenherz said he first thought up the idea for Gradifi in response to what he viewed as the inadequacies of the Online Course Information Web site.
“I looked at OCI and said, ‘There’s something wrong here,’” Loewenherz said. “We have all this information, sure, but most of it we could get from friends. The course comments range from saying ‘this is the best course’ to ‘don’t even take this course.’ And you don’t get the grades for the course, either.”
Gradifi uses a complex algorithm to determine the grades students would likely get from a course based on the grades they entered for courses already taken. The site will eventually feature a page for each course, Loewenherz said, complete with grade-distribution graphs, reviews for every professor who taught the course and the ability to compare workloads for different courses and professors.
Loewenherz emphasized that everything on Gradifi is strictly confidential and anonymous.
By Loewenherz’s estimation, Gradifi will reach an acceptable standard of accuracy once it has about 5,000 class reviews, and about 1,000 student users. As of 7:36 p.m. Tuesday, Gradifi had 114 users and 330 class reviews. But Loewenherz said he expects the site to be fully functional by the end of the week.
An informal poll of 25 Yale students conducted by the News revealed a variety of reactions to Gradifi. All but three students said information provided on OCI was adequate for choosing courses. Half the students said seeing a course’s grade distribution would be helpful in selecting classes.
“In one way, students could take it easy, just taking courses they know they’d get good grades in,” Frank Teng ’12 said. “Or they could really challenge themselves.”
Added Mikie Mekeel ’11:“If I knew that 40 percent of people got A’s in a class, and 10 percent got A minuses, I’d be more willing to take that course than one where 10 percent got A’s and 40 percent got A minuses.”
Many students said Gradifi could be “dangerous,” tempting students to take courses based solely on grades. One student, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Gradifi could lead teachers to change their grading.
“If the grade distribution for a ‘gut’ gets out there, then the teacher will change their grading from giving mostly A’s to mostly C’s,” the student said.
Professors were also split on the idea of a Web site like Gradifi.
“It does seem to me that the information about grade distribution would be of interest to students considering [courses outside their area of expertise],” English professor Leslie Brisman said. “It would hold little interest for students of the humanities in choosing humanities courses or science students in considering science courses.”
But psychology professor Margaret Clark questioned the validity of the data provided.
“You have to ask whether [students] would report the grade distributions accurately,” she said.
Dean of Undergraduate Education Joseph Gordon said in e-mail that similar commercial sites providing academic information already exist, but they are flawed in that the information gathered by such sites is not independently verified.
Gradifi cannot verify that students are providing legitimate information regarding grades or courses, but Loewenherz said he is not concerned about students’ providing false data.
“You wouldn’t want to sabotage the system,” Loewenherz said.
And, Gordon said, Yale already provides plenty of information to students in the form of freshman counselors, advising fairs, residential-college deans and the OCS Web site.
“Distribution of grading in a course is not good basis of informing a choice of whether or not to enroll in that course,” Gordon wrote.
Comments
None 3 years, 4 months ago
Yee How!! Now I can really be an A student.
None 3 years, 4 months ago
It's ready for use now at Yale, but it's still in beta, so things aren't yet ready for other schools. We'll probably be moving to the rest of the Ivy League within two months, definitely before the beginning of next semester. -Dan
None 3 years, 4 months ago
When will the site be ready? Do you plan to spread it tpo other campuses as Michelle (the Little Loewenherz")implied?
None 3 years, 4 months ago
Yale'00, if you're serious in your comments, you may never make it to graduation. This web site is not funny. On the contrary, it seems to be quite serious and will likely be the biggest and most important college campus innovation since the advent of Cliff notes (which you probably think are funny, too). Wait til' you see Dan Loewenherz laughing all the way to the bank. He'll likely think it's pretty fun(ny) at that point.
None 3 years, 4 months ago
No, Marry Me!!
None 3 years, 4 months ago
Hey Dan, great idea. Now, make it work at UF.
Thank you and love you, Michelle (the little Loewenherz)
None 3 years, 4 months ago
I can't believe I didn't think of this myself! Damn!! You Yalies.
None 3 years, 4 months ago
I would be honored to have my course reviewed on gradifi, to see what my students think of the course, and to compare the grades I award with those of comparable courses. I hope that Mr. Loewenherz sees fit to take one of my courses.
Economics Professor (who wishes to remain anonymous at this point)
None 3 years, 4 months ago
Dan, will you marry me?
None 3 years, 5 months ago
I consider myself a good student. I'll be an even better one with the use of gradifi!!
None 3 years, 5 months ago
This is one of the funniest things I've ever read. Students really think this is in their interest?
Just wait until you see what Yale's grade distribution looks like -- no, better, wait until potential employers and graduate schools get a look at Yale's grade distribution. Do you REALLY want to advertise Yale's average GPA (which is rumored to be a 3.7 or 3.8)?
The current grading system is very, very inflated compared to many other schools. Once that gets out, an A won't mean anything coming from Yale.
Do you want to force the administration to do something about grade inflation? Because publicizing grades will certainly do that.
None 3 years, 5 months ago
Contrary to what this article seems to espouse, open access to grades was not the reason I started gradifi. It was to make the process of course selection and academic organization one in which the students have more power than they ever have before.
The current grading system is flawed, everyone knows it, yet not willing to do anything about it. Hiding this information hurts everybody and even our President, Richard Levin, knows it. Employers already know that Yalies benefit from good grades. It's how good they are with respect to their peers that makes the difference. And regardless of what grading scale you use, the good students will always be above the average and the bad students below. It's knowing what that average is that is helpful. Hopefully, employers see the benefit in this, and students will also see the benefit in knowing where they stand.
Information is a good thing, regardless of how you want to spin it. I'd rather hire someone from an institution that gives grades honestly than one with an astronomical GPA from Yale, where according to you, grades don't mean anything. I pray that the current grading system changes. You seem to be scared about this--I think it would be a slap in the face to those who see this as an elitist institution.
None 3 years, 5 months ago
a novel idea: people could get a rough sense of grade distribution, but take classes based mainly on genuine intellectual interest rather than an overarching concern over GPA.
None 3 years, 5 months ago
It's amazing that this hasn't been going on at yale. The YDN used to compile reviews of the major lecture courses including grade distributions back in the '70's. They sold them as a course guide at the start of the year. I think that the reviews sheets were handed out to the students at the end of each semester and then the YDN compiled the data along with a written critique of the course.
None 3 years, 5 months ago
of course the yale oci wont show grades because people fill out their evals before they see their final grade. why that makes sense, i'll never know.
an obvious sop to the profs.
Or login with:
OpenID