1 / 18

What is the Problem?

Challenges in Curriculum Adaptation across Institutions of Higher Education: Similarities between International and National Student Transfer. R. Kempter, C. Furse, N. Cotter (University of Utah) N. Safai, L. Brinton (Salt Lake Community College). Question:. What is the best policy for

lance
Download Presentation

What is the Problem?

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Challenges in Curriculum Adaptation across Institutions of Higher Education:Similarities between International and National Student Transfer R. Kempter, C. Furse, N. Cotter (University of Utah)N. Safai, L. Brinton (Salt Lake Community College)

  2. Question: What is the best policy for admitting undergraduate transfer students? What is the Problem? • Majority of the undergraduate students in UofU ECE transfer from nearby 2 year schools. • Courses and grading may or may not be identical.

  3. 4 year programs ? ? ? = = = ? ? ? ? = = = = ? = Are Courses & Grades Equal? 2 year programs Concurrent HS program: “Lead the Way”

  4. 4 year programs ! ! ! = = = ! ! ! ! = = = = ! = Are Courses & Grades Equal? Utah Legislature: “They MUST be!” 2 year programs Concurrent HS program: “Lead the Way”

  5. B B 4th year grades A A 4th year grades B B T B 2nd year grades 2nd year grades B+ B+ GPA> 2.8 ↓ 9 credit hours Today’s Undergrad Transfer Procedures • Credits transfer, Grades do not • Admission to Major status in ECE in sophomore year: • GPA>2.8, up to a max of 75 students/year

  6. B B 4th year grades A A 4th year grades B B B 2nd year grades 2nd year grades B+ B+ Graduation GPA = 3.1 Graduation GPA = 3.33 Transfer Procedures: Issues Case 1: Transfer student has lower 2nd year GPA than UofU student T GPA= 2.81  9 credit hours 2nd year GPA = 3.16 2nd year GPA = 2.81

  7. T A B B 4th year grades A A A 4th year grades A B B What if there’s grade inflation between UofU and transfer Institution? A 2nd year grades 2nd year grades A A Graduation GPA = 3.66 Graduation GPA = 3.33 But Transfer Procedures: Issues Case 2: Top students with high 2nd year GPAs 2nd year GPA = 4.0 2nd year GPA = 4.0

  8. T 2nd year grades 2nd year grades ECE 2000: C ECE 2000: B+ 2nd year GPA = 3.66>2.8 2nd year GPA = 2.5<2.8 ECE 2270: B- ECE 2270: A- ECE 1000: B- ECE 1000: A- Transfer Procedures: Issues Case 3: Assume grade inflation is involved

  9. GPA at Graduation from UoU GPA at unaccredited institution Range of grades from UofU Range of grades at unaccredited institution T Tracking the Individual Student 4.0 3.0 GPA 2.0 1.0 Student • 24/67 students: 0 transfers • 43/67 students transferred • an average of 3.37 classes

  10. 35/43 T students GPA ↓ 8/43 T students GPA ↑ Grade inflation, UofU students disadvantage ECE Undergraduate Student Performance

  11. 2 year colleges T = = All of these indicate risk-factors for lower academic performance Academic performance may be lower Reasons for Transfer 4 year colleges Freshmen competitively selected

  12. Current “Solution” Probation for Transfer students prior to admission to major status Pros: academic standards are maintained Cons: possibly unfair, singles out transfer students, unpopular with good students “Classic” grading on a curve cannot be used as a performance estimator between different groups! Result of transfer Result: Difference in student demographics leads to different student performance statistics.

  13. How cope? • Standardized tests (TOEFL, GRE…) • GPA and school history • Permanent performance monitoring, GPA>3.0 • International advisor, mandatory Possible solutions Sounds familiar? Not a novel situation, common situation in especially international graduate student transfer. • There we have: • Very different academic performance spectra • Tuition levels vary greatly, students may be more or lessmotivated (amount/time) • Greatly varying academic climate

  14. Standardized state-wide pre-ECE test, something like the SAT? Common exam before admission to ECE major status for all students? Constant performance monitoring and mandatory advisor as for international graduate students? → proven effective, good results! Possible Undergrad Solutions: The Future

  15. U of U accepts credits but not grades: - : disadvantage at Graduation Good students - Grade inflation, UofU students are atdisadvantage (75 max/year, GPA>2.8) : advantage at Graduation - Dull students Conclusion • We investigated national student transfer on the undergraduate level • Different student demographics lead to measurably differentstudent performance statistics:→Grading on a curve problematic

  16. transfer students are put on probation Currently: Pros: academic standards are maintained Cons: unfair, singles out transfer students Conclusion: Ways to Cope • Future?- Standardized tests such as SAT, GRE- Common exam before major status in ECE - Constant performance monitoring for undergraduates, → same as for international graduate students- Mandatory undergraduate advisor

  17. Curriculum development has to be harmonized across institutions! T Conclusion: Ways to Cope ifundergraduate_student_transfer== 1 grading=standardized end

  18. Questions ? Roland Kempter, Dr. Cynthia Furse Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Utah Kempter@ece.utah.edu,cfurse@ece.utah.edu

More Related