Student Success Activities Summarized by CSFI Categories
Ray Launier


Competition
Students read in the syllabus that they can earn up to a maximum of 1000 points in my courses. These points are distributed by assignments, quizzes, exams, term papers, attendance and participation. Students are required to set a course goal in terms of points earned, broken down by the areas in which they will earn the points. In principle, if every student completes all requirements correctly, then all can receive an A. This encourages achievement through mastery learning and self-competition vs. grading by the predetermined curve and interpersonal competition. After quizzes and exams, I do return individual progress reports from Micro Grade to each student in terms of points earned to date. I also show overhead transparencies on the distribution of scores earned by the class as a whole. Thus, students compare their progress in two ways: that made with regard to their individual goals, and that made with regard to how other students are doing. When I have more than one section of a class, I let the various sections know how they are doing compared to other sections. Healthy competition is encouraged.