- General
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Ideas
Revalue the Outstanding Grade.
For a while now I've disagreed with the grading system as a whole--in terms of the guidelines and what's expected. This is because I believe that in order for anyone to improve they need a little tough love. Though, I get why you've developed the system as is and thus won't be willing to change it utterly.
I simply suggest that Outstanding only need to be rewarded for those who truly put in the effort--and I know someone is going to mention that what I consider effort is subjective, but we all know that isn't true. We all have a basic view of effort--and we all know what it looks like.
Exceeds Expectations should be given to those we meet all the requirements for the homework assignment--while Outstanding should be given to those who obviously go above and beyond the call of the assignment to make something as impressive as possible.
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An issue though is that this could quickly be abused in a few ways.
The way your proposing this, it's up to the grader to determine if it's Outstanding worthy, meaning it depends on what their opinion of going "above and beyond" is. Obviously, there will be different opinions on that, as some people will be very strict with who they give it to and others will be very generous.
Additionally, if someone really wants to help their house get points, they can give an Exceeds Expectations to those from another house and claim they think the person needs more detail, while giving their own house Outstandings and say they thought that the person did more than they needed and did go that extra distance. That can't exactly be disputed because again, it's based on the person's individual opinion on what is going above and beyond and what isn't.
That can be the same for anyone who just happens to not like someone or thinks their grammar is bad or disagrees with something they've said. None of which is very fair.
There's a wide range of skill levels in the users on World of Potter and we cannot hold each one to the same standards of going "above and beyond". Some are young, others have certain disabilities, some do not speak the native language of the site, so we cannot tell them that they can't get as many points as someone else because it is difficult for them to go past what is required for the lesson.
If you really think someone should be awarded extra for an assignment, you can always gift them a prize or something if they include their name, but I don't think that this is the way to go about it.
I also agree with everything Kayte has mentioned above, another issue that could occur is that it discourages users from doing homework. They could put their heart and soul into an assignment and be proud of it, then someone comes along and tells them that their effort, time, energy and creativeness has failed them and that they cant receive an O. That could upset someone and cause them to no longer have the desire or drive to participate by doing homework.
This is coming from a Current AT of a few WoP sites, users have come to AT's and teachers explaining how they no longer desired to do homework as students gave them grades off for things such as grammar, spelling, "lack of creativity", "lack of effort" etc. We want to encourage users to get involved, do homework and have fun. I feel as though taking grades off due to things that aren't required.
I do love the fact that you have suggestions on how you think the site can improve, I really do and I hope that you keep suggesting things that you feel could be improved in the future!