NUTSHELL NOTES "Teaching tips in a nutshell" - The University of Colorado at Denver's One-page Newsletter for Teaching Excellence

Often the need for regularly informing students about their grade is not obvious. We may think: "If students took three exams, and we graded and returned these, then can't the students be relied on to divide the total of the scores by three to get their own averages?"

I used to believe that, and like most of us, my rating in this category was lower than in others. Then a faculty member came for my help. He was not happy about some aspects of his student evaluations, but on the issue about keeping students informed of their progress, he had scored a perfect five out of a possible five! "How did you do that?" leapt out as I pointed to the unusual score on that particular question. The individual informed me that he kept all his grades on a computer spreadsheet, so every two weeks he simply printed a copy of all scores and a current average (with student ID numbers and no names) and allowed this sheet to be passed through the class during the regular lecture. I too kept my grade-book on a spreadsheet, so I began to use his method.

What a surprise! The first time I did this, two of my forty students came up and wondered if I had mistyped their quiz grades into my records—I had done exactly that! I always knew that I was a ham-handed typist, and it suddenly drove home the point that my typed student grades weren't any more error-free than the rest of my typing. It justified to me students' apprehensions; many do wonder, with good reason, if we have the same set of numbers in our grade books as they have in their notes. Since that sobering moment, I religiously pass out my grade record every two weeks, and every now and then, an error gets caught. My ratings in this category are now high, and both students and I are happy about the
benefits of keeping tabs of their progress together.

Teleconference on Women in Math and Science, Tuesday, April 26, 9:00 - 9:50 a.m.

North Classroom 4014 

This upcoming teleconference is part of the series, Connecting the Past With the Future, sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Each film in the series features a discipline, where the contributions of a woman scientist from the past are presented in the context of their influence on the present field, particularly as seen through the eyes of women who now practice the discipline. This conference's discipline is geology, and Florence Bascomb is the scientist whose influence is examined by modern practitioners. Lyn Taylor of our College of Education initiated getting this series at UCD. Kudos, Lyn!!

Engineering, Mathematics, and Science Faculty Are Asked to Contribute to Sheila Tobias' Volume on Assessment.

Sheila Tobias, noted science educator, is producing a book on in-class testing practices in college-level science. She seeks contributions from science faculty who may have developed innovative or successful methods of testing. If you have a particularly successful method or practice that might be included, contact this office for the form and address needed to contribute to Sheila's efforts.