FACULTY ASSOCIATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO

ISSUE 140 FAUW Forum DECEMBER 2008 DAVID WANG, EDITOR

President’s Message

expressions of concern from faculty page 3 for the links to these members and promising to answer reports.) I also heard from many them at the November Senate Senators that they would not have meeting. There had been some been willing to vote in favour of the suggestion in discussions at Senate UAE initiative before the meeting, Executive Committee that the but were willing to do so after, in Senate had in the past approved light of commitments the Univer‐ the UAE initiative in principle, sity made at the meeting. though nobody who had been Leaving out the details, and so there at the time remembered for most of the really interesting bits, I sure. This turned out not to be so. would say that the concerns I heard This seemed to me, and to several from faculty about UAE fall into other Senators, including the Presi‐ three categories. (I set aside dents of the two student associa‐ expressions of scepticism about the tions, not to be appropriate. Craig sustainability of the business model Sloss of the Graduate Student David DeVidi, Philosophy for present purposes.) Association and I therefore asked, as members of Senate Executive  Procedural worries: the initia‐ Committee, that a motion to ap‐ tive was going ahead without There have been two major issues prove in principle the UAE initiative, appropriate consultation with that have occupied much of the as so far described to Senate, be faculty and with Senate. time of the FAUW Board of Direc‐ put on the agenda for the No‐ tors in the past couple of months:  Human rights issues of various vember meeting. The rest of Senate issues surrounding distant cam‐ sorts. (If the University won’t Exec readily agreed. puses, and the University’s decision put its logo on a shirt made to “delay” spending, which has I think the volume of thought‐ with sweatshop labour, why involved leaving faculty and staff ful and difficult questions, and prin‐ will it put it on a building built positions at least temporarily un‐ cipled objections, that poured in by workers with no more rights filled, a decision by the library to was a surprise to many. Almost the than people working in sweat‐ stop buying books for several whole of the November Senate shops? How will women fac‐ months, and delays on building meeting was devoted to discussion ulty feel when they have to projects. of the UAE motion. Many Senators (Continued on page 2) have described it as the best Senate

discussion they have seen. I cannot Distant Campuses: In my previous reproduce the whole of the discus‐ Inside this issue: President’s Message, I reported sion here, of course, but do draw Editorial 4 that in response to expressions of your attention to the list of ques‐ discontent with the quality of tions I compiled in response to the answers at Senate to questions feedback I received from non‐ Highlights from CAUT 5 about one of UW’s overseas Senate faculty members and to the Council initiatives, the proposed campus in responses to questions provided by Grade Inflation at UW 7 the United Arab Emirates, the the Administration. (Please see Senate was soliciting questions and PAGE 2 ISSUE 140

(Continued from page 1) and announced to Senate that disadvantages. in future initiatives of similar I will not pronounce on the wait in a grocery line‐up until importance to UAE will be merits of this argument. I will note all the men are served before brought to Senate for that, coupled with the commit‐ they can check out? How is the approval, and that this would ments noted above, it carried the legal situation in UAE recon‐ happen early enough in the day at Senate. cilable with a commitment to process to make a difference. academic freedom? See the list In some sense, then, the first 2. The University would consult two sorts of issues were “resolved” of questions for many compel‐ with FAUW at the Faculty ling worries.) at Senate. This leaves as the big Relations Committee and outstanding concern the third sort  Equality of opportunity for fac‐ return to Senate with of issue. It is one that, as President ulty members. As one faculty proposals about effective ways of FAUW and as someone who has member aptly noted, one thing to monitor the human rights always been proud to work at UW, feminist critiques of traditional and academic freedom leaves me troubled. It seems to me business practices make clear situation for UW faculty, staff that now that the UAE initiative has is that the golf course has long and students at distant been approved by Senate it will go been a locus of power in which campuses, and report to ahead. I therefore ask that if you important decisions are made Senate about them. have ideas for ways to address this in an informal setting that sys‐ It was also at the November Senate sort of unfairness you pass them tematically excludes non‐ meeting that the Administration, in along to me, or to another FAUW golfers, often women. If particular the Provost, Amit Board member. Your suggestion women faculty will not go to Chakma, made explicit the Univer‐ might be one that helps not just UAE, a similar sort of exclusion sity’s case in support of the UAE with the UAE, but with other is possible. Teaching in UAE initiative. One key strand of that initiatives. will be a lucrative undertaking argument, it seems to me, was this: for those willing to do it. If gay There are many parts of the world faculty cannot go there where the human rights situation is Finally, while most of the discussion because homosexuality is ille‐ dire, including in many respects the to date has been about the UAE gal, they are excluded from an UAE. On the other hand, there are initiative, this is merely a matter of opportunity for reasons that important academic and financial circumstance. Similar issues could should be irrelevant. If as a advantages to the University of arise for many other initiatives, and philosopher I can’t boost my Waterloo, as it attempts to fulfill its not just those overseas. A fair num‐ income by going to the UAE mission in teaching and research, ber of faculty members that I talk because it’s engineering to becoming an international to have questions about the courses being taught there, no university. Whether to establish a seemingly ever‐changing Stratford problem; if it’s because of who presence in any particular country plans, for instance, that mirror I married, that’s not so good. becomes a matter of weighing concerns I hear about UAE; these Similarly, faculty members costs and benefits. There are include scepticism about the who travel on Israeli passports countries to which UW would not business plan, and a worry that the will not be allowed into the go (e.g., countries where co‐ whole enterprise is being driven by UAE, and so are excluded on educational classes would not be a prior decision that UW will do grounds that should be allowed; or those where a UW something in this location, whether irrelevant. faculty member arrested would be it makes any sense for the Faculty I think there were two key commit‐ likely to disappear into a prison of Arts, and the University as a ments made by the University at rather than being deported if whole, or not. I hope the UAE the Senate meeting, which explains caught doing something the discussion serves as a useful why some Senators changed their authorities disapprove of, such as precedent, and that we see a minds about whether they could criticizing the government). similar willingness to insist on support the initiative. However, the argument goes, in coherent answers to important the case of the UAE, the questions at the relevant venues in 1. At the Senate meeting, the Arts and, eventually, at Senate. University’s key officers stood advantages outweigh the FAUW FORUM PAGE 3

Finances and the Town Hall: I am which I compiled into a list and sent restraints. I can report that almost sure that I don’t need to tell you in. You can find the questions, and all of them said yes, and many said about the University Administra‐ what I heard to be the answers, at that the freezes had been in effect tion’s decision to “slow down” the link given at the end of this for some time. spending in light of the impact of message. You will notice that some market conditions on the endow‐ of the questions we asked were not ment and pension plan, and the answered ... It turns out that this is ST JEROME’S UPDATE: When I talk impact the deteriorating finances because of some sort of email to colleagues at SJU, they report of the Province of Ontario might hiccup: while I sent them in by the that the situation has not materially have on university funding. I do deadline, they were not received by changed, and that morale is low. want to acknowledge the efforts Chris Redmond, who put together The SJU Board of Governors has made by the University to make the the questions, until after the hired a consultant, Alexander Town Hall, at which the University deadline. Gregor, formerly a Professor of the President and Provost answered History of Higher Education at the One important question that University of Manitoba. He is to questions submitted by faculty and many faculty asked, and so that staff, as useful as possible. Gone “facilitate a process of listening and made our list, but that did not reflection upon the current situa‐ were the PowerPoint presentations reach the Town Hall, was this: Why or lengthy sales speeches more tion at St. Jerome’s University.” The is UW out of step with other letter to faculty and staff that appropriate for a presentation to Ontario universities? The Admin the Chamber of Commerce. The announces Gregor’s appointment says we are financially healthy, but mentions his meeting with current answers were, by and large, as other universities have not direct as one could expect, since faculty and staff, but not those who announced similar hiring freezes. I have recently left. My suspicion is neither was in a position to make want to answer that question here: commitments (e.g., “no layoffs”) that he will recognize the impor‐ at the OCUFA caucus at the recent tance of meeting with those who that circumstances, however meetings of the Canadian Associa‐ unlikely, could force them to go have left for the sake of producing tion of University Teachers, I asked a useful report. back on in the future. my colleagues whether their In advance of the meeting I universities had imposed hiring asked faculty to send me questions, freezes and similar spending

Links to reports mentioned in the President’s Message: Questions about the UAE campus: http://www.fauw.uwaterloo.ca/Links/OverseasInitiativesQuestions.pdf Administration response to UAE questions: http://www.secretariat.uwaterloo.ca/20081117uaeresponse.pdf Town Hall questions and responses: http://www.fauw.uwaterloo.ca/Links/TownHallQuestions.pdf. PAGE 4 ISSUE 140

Editorial David Wang, Electrical and Computer Engineering

As Christmas gets closer, my incorporate real physical models into material found on the Internet as thoughts turn to what gifts to give the graphics. Recently, I find more their own. my nine children. They are, as usual, and more students don’t have a I am convinced that the tech‐ quite keen on getting the latest elec‐ grasp of simple physical concepts nologies that our children are clam‐ tronics. For example, the newest such as springs, friction and accelera‐ oring for as gifts are the same tools computer games, perhaps a cell tion. The youth simply don’t play in that are rendering them unable to phone or maybe even a laptop. Of the real world, preferring instead to cope with university level academics course, budgets being what they are, go into virtual computer worlds for and resulting in these higher failure I suspect Santa Claus will be a tad their entertainment. Worse, the abil‐ rates. My suspicions were substanti‐ cheap and disappointing this year. ity and patience of our future stu‐ ated to an extent by a recent Mac‐ However, it does reflect a change in dents to undertake an activity such lean’s article in the November 4th culture from our youth, when we as reading is replaced now replaced issue called “Dumbed Down” where desired Meccano sets, board games, by games where the story is told for some of these effects are discussed. dolls, skates and books. These were you without effort or imagination. One possible reaction to this in‐ presents that arguably had a mental, Another contributor, in my crease in failure rates could be for social and physical component miss‐ opinion, is computer social networks faculty members to dilute our stan‐ ing from today’s gadgets. such as Facebook, MSN and text dards. The grade inflation trend In this edition of the FAUW messaging. I am finding more and could make this very tempting. How‐ Forum, we have a report on trends in more high school students who do ever, we all need to be aware of grade inflation at the University of not understand that the concept of these external forces affecting how Waterloo. However, some of you group projects requires actual meet‐ young people learn and take steps to may also be aware of a disturbing ings and brainstorming together. address them without lowering our trend in some of our faculties where These electronic social networks standards. Some professors seem, in failure rates have jumped in an create the possibility of a “cut and my opinion, to be continuing the alarming fashion since 2004 and paste” project where the members same teaching strategies that they appear to be increasing. This is a fact do not actually ever sit in a room have used for decades, without rec‐ also picked up in this intriguing re‐ together. I have actually seen this ognition of the dramatic changes in port. Conventional wisdom usually happen with one of my high school their audience. points to the new high school cur‐ kids. It also doesn’t help that the As a possible resource to fur‐ riculum, expansion of our programs shorthand “c u later” text messages ther discuss these issues, I would like and the double cohort. However, the are taking away the ability for our to encourage faculty members to go new curriculum was firmly in place students to communicate effectively to our Online Forum and use the by 2002, the expansion has been in in full sentences. discussion forums that are there. areas where the quality of the stu‐ Traditional ways of research These have just been revamped to dents has been very high and the have also been hijacked by Google make them easier to use. Simply go double cohort occurred in 2003. and Wikipedia. Instead of referring to www.fauw.uwaterloo.ca and then Although it is still too early to nail to books or libraries, students now click on the “Online Forum” button. down definitive causes, I do have my do all their research without ever You will have to enter your uw userid own theories about what is contrib‐ leaving their computer. Despite our and password (likely the same one uting to this trend from observing best efforts to warn about the poor you use to access myhrinfo and/or my children. reliability of these sources, students your wireless network access). You I believe, for instance, that continue to rely solely on these will have immediate access to the computer games are part of the tools. Even previously tedious tasks discussion forum at that point. This is problem. Computer games take such as language translation can now an important topic and I hope that as away tactile and physical interaction be done, albeit poorly, using soft‐ many faculty members as possible with the world. Physics, for example, ware tools easily available on the can use this opportunity to work in an electronic sports game are of‐ Internet. In the worse case scenario, together to address these issues. ten fudged as it is too complicated to students can cheat by presenting FAUW FORUM PAGE 5

The National Scene: Highlights from the November CAUT Council David DeVidi, Philosophy

CAUT censures FNU, moves to cen‐ leaves all the previous problems in by anyone within 10 metres. More‐ sure Acadia. CAUT Council voted place. over, unlike similar chips in use in unanimously to censure First Na‐ The problems at Acadia sur‐ library books and some products in tions University of Canada, whose round a tenured full professor who stores, it cannot be turned off. One main campus is at the University of was fired without due process, and imagines large retailers tracking Regina. CAUT thereby asks faculty by all the available evidence with‐ which aisles you go down on your in Canada and internationally to out just cause, and the inexplicable trips into stores, and that this refuse appointments at FNU, to refusal of the Acadia administration might well be a way to get the dis‐ refuse any awards from FNU, and to discuss the matter with either credited idea of a national ID card to refuse invitations to speak or the Acadia University Faculty Asso‐ in place through the back door. The attend conferences there. CAUT ciation or CAUT. CAUT received a opportunities for forged licenses will take steps to publicize the cen‐ letter from Acadia’s lawyer threat‐ are probably also non‐negligible. sure widely. ening that “CAUT will be held le‐ This is the first time CAUT has gally responsible for any negative “Secure flight” proposals. While it invoked censure in almost 30 years. consequences to the University’s is alarming enough that the Cana‐ Problems at FNU became a crisis in reputation and the welfare of its dian government is putting to‐ 2005 with the actions of the then‐ students.” I think it is worth quot‐ gether its own “no fly” list, the pro‐ Chair of the Board of Governors, a ing the response from Erin Patter‐ posed “US Secure Flight” plan is vice‐Chief of the Federation of Sas‐ son, President of AUFA, to this em‐ probably even more worrisome. katchewan Indian Nations (FSIN). barrassing statement: “Censure is a For any flight that goes over the He suspended several senior ad‐ political act, not a legal one, and US, whether or not it lands there, ministrators and, accompanied by AUFA feels strongly that suing a airlines will need to send a large several people, stormed the univer‐ person or a body for expressing an amount of data about each passen‐ sity’s offices and ordered the peo‐ opinion is utterly incompatible with ger to US authorities. They will de‐ ple working in them to leave, the purpose, principles and operat‐ termine whether you are allowed seized the central computers, and ing imperatives of Acadia Univer‐ to board the flight, and whether made copies of the hard drive that sity.” some sort of security code is placed included all faculty and staff re‐ on your boarding pass. Passengers cords. There have been egregious Travel to the US frequently? Think won’t find out whether they’ll be violations of academic freedom, twice before opting for an allowed on a flight until they reach the departure of many faculty “enhanced driver’s license”. As the airport. And, of course, the US members, and bargaining in bad most UW faculty will know, there is government will have information faith with the University of Regina a move afoot in Ontario to modify about where you spend your vaca‐ Faculty Association. drivers’ licenses so that they com‐ tions, conference time, and sab‐ baticals. The main outstanding issue is ply with US Homeland Security standards, the idea being to speed the refusal to address the problems Self‐Censorship? A student at the with the governance of the univer‐ trips across the border compared to needing to show a passport to a University of Nottingham and the sity that made these events possi‐ supervisor of his MA thesis were ble in the first place. The FSIN itself border official. However, the stan‐ dards currently in place involve the recently arrested for “possession of set up an All Chiefs Task Force to terrorist material.” The student had recommend an appropriate (i.e., inclusion in the “enhanced” driver’s license of a particular Radio Fre‐ downloaded material from a US depoliticized) governance structure government web site as part of his for the FNU, but has ignored the quency Identification Chip that is not very secure. The information is research for his MA thesis. One of recommendation of its own task many concerns about this is that it force. Instead, it has tinkered with unencrypted, and can be read with commercially available equipment will lead to self‐censorship in Brit‐ the previous structure in a way that (Continued on page 6) PAGE 6 ISSUE 140

(Continued from page 5) changes to the oversight of CSIS ments in a faculty member’s and the RCMP. possession. Of course, it’s not ish universities. According to CAUT precisely clear what is in a uni‐ lawyers, Canadian law arguably Freedom of Information requests: versity’s custody and control, would allow the same sort of thing A recent arbitrator’s decision at the and this will be larger for faculty to happen here. It strikes me as University of Ottawa should come when playing significant admin‐ profoundly counterproductive if as a relief both to faculty and to istrative roles, such as being our laws limit the academic study those in university administrations Chair. The arbitrator has asked of matters like international terror‐ who must implement the Freedom the University of Ottawa admini‐ ism, even if indirectly by chilling the of Information and Personal Privacy stration and faculty union to interest of students and academics Act. The University of Ottawa, in negotiate where the line is. by introducing the risk of arrest response to a FIPPA request, had into serious pursuit of the topic. It asked faculty to provide it with all What’s up at SSHRC? An inter‐ also seems an important issue for documents that had anything to do esting factoid: In 1996‐97, the the University of Waterloo, which with a particular topic, and Council that runs SSHRC included is expanding its research attention “helpfully” offered to search pro‐ 11 (non‐administrator) faculty to international affairs. fessors hard drives for them. The members and one representa‐ Meanwhile, the Canadian gov‐ arbitrator ruled that a university tive from the corporate sector. ernment continues to refuse to has a right only to documents in The current membership in‐ implement the second half of the the university’s “custody and con‐ cludes 3 faculty members and 7 O’Connor report into the Maher trol,” and made clear that this is corporate representatives. Arar case, which recommended only a small subset of all the docu‐

Faculty Representatives Needed for the Employee Assistance Program Committee

Term: January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2010 Meetings: 2:30‐4:00 pm, third Tuesday each month

There are two openings for faculty representatives on the EAP Committee: one voting member and one alternate who would attend meetings, but vote only when the regular faculty representative is not present. The EAP Committee is charged with developing and implementing the EAP program, and with organizing EAP activities such as “brown bag” presentations and a variety of wellness events.

The Committee is advisory to the Associate Provost, Human Resources & Student Services, and has representatives from the Faculty and Staff Associations, CUPE Local 793, Counselling Services, Health Services and Human Resources.

Applicants should review the information contained in Policy 67, Employee Assistance Program (EAP): http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy67.htm

If you are interested in serving on this committee, please contact Pat Moore at x33787.

FAUW FORUM PAGE 7

Grade Inflation at the University of Waterloo Greg Mayer PhD Candidate, Department of Applied Mathematics

Introduction Figure 2 shows the percentage of undergraduate This article contains previously unpublished evi‐ final grades that were at least 80% (or at least an A‐) dence of GI at the University of Waterloo (UW). Like in each of our academic faculties. many Canadian post‐secondary institutions, under‐ graduate grade distribution data is not available to the general public on its website. Indeed, it is particu‐ larly difficult for any faculty member to be aware of temporal changes in grade distributions, as such infor‐ mation is not available without submitting a request to our Institutional and Analysis (IAP) office and sub‐ sequently processing the raw data to obtain desired statistics. However, it is hoped that this article will raise some awareness within the UW faculty of when, where, and how much GI occurred at UW from 1988/89 to 2006/07.

Evidence of Grade Inflation Grades obtained from the IAP office at UW were analyzed to explore recent trends in course grade distributions (for a description of the obtained data, please see the full version of this article on the FAUW Online Forum). These grades were used to calculate Figure 3 shows the percentage of grades that grade distributions (Figure 1), obtained from all were less than 50% in each faculty. grades from all faculties and academic levels. In 1988/89, 25.22% of 100 level grades given were at least 80%. In contrast, 35.26% of 100 level grades were at least 80% by 2006/07. The increase in the number of A’s was accompanied by decreases in the number of B and C grades.

To some degree, grade inflation appears to be present in all academic faculties at UW during various time periods. Furthermore, grades in the ENG and MATH faculties may have stopped increasing after PAGE 8 ISSUE 140

2003/04, and failure rates seemed to have started to As students gravitate away from courses and pro‐ increase in 2003/04. This coincides with the “double grams that tend to grade more stringently, course cohort” year, when the government of Ontario re‐ enrollment, instructor hiring, and department funding moved Grade 13 in 2002/03. As a result, Grade 13 patterns are ultimately influenced in ways that are students from Ontario who graduated in the summer less than desirable. of 2003 were competing with graduating Grade 12 Secondly, as grades are increased without a cor‐ students to be admitted into Ontario universities. responding increase in student performance, those Concerns over the increasing failure rates in the Engi‐ students who achieve high grades through great ef‐ neering faculty were expressed in March of this year fort are justifiably concerned when their peers in an Iron Warrior article [2]. Indeed, in 2005/06, the achieve similar grades with significantly less work. By failure rate (3.62%) was higher than any other year over‐rewarding mediocrity, grade inflation discour‐ since at least 1988/89. ages excellence. Taking a closer look at the data, Figure 4 shows Furthermore, grades are relied upon by profes‐ the distribution of all 100 level course grades in my sional and graduate schools for summarizing student faculty (the Faculty of Mathematics) in 1988/89 achievement. GI compresses all grades at the top of (black) and 2003/04 (grey). The median and mean of the scale, making it difficult to distinguish between the 1988/89 distribution were 70 and 68.25, respec‐ good and outstanding students. Potential employers tively. The median and mean of the 2003/04 distribu‐ and graduate schools that do not (and can not) take tion was 75 and 72.64. A large peak appears at 50%. into account different levels of GI, and therefore have Many instructors likely did not want (or could not) difficulty relying on transcripts to make hiring and give final grades of 47%, 48%, or 49%, and instead enrollment decisions. gave these students a 50%. It is also interesting to note that peaks occurred at 70%, 80%, and 90% in Finally, giving higher grades to students than both academic years. what they have earned gives them false feedback on their ability. Giving high grades to students who put in a modest amount of work is a disservice to the wider society that interacts with these students who are graduating with inflated impressions of their self effi‐ cacy [3].

Sources of Grade Inflation One possible source of GI is that today’s students are brighter than their predecessors. This may, for example, be the case if a faculty decides to raise its minimum high school grade entrance requirement. However, it would seem that if grades are rising be‐ cause students are smarter, then students would likely also be less challenged by the institution and would receive a better education if standards were raised. One of the most extensively researched sources of GI involves student evaluations of teaching (SET). The Impact of Grade Inflation SET ratings are used by administrators to make per‐ Several problems that GI presents to post‐ sonnel decisions, such as salary, hiring, tenure, pro‐ secondary institutions have been discussed in the motion, and awards. However, student grades are pedagogical literature. For example, if GI is not uni‐ correlated with SET ratings (see for example [5,6,7]). form across different departments and faculties at a A natural question to then ask is if instructors take given institution, problems can be encountered that advantage of this correlation to artificially inflate relate to course enrollment. Many students attempt grades. Anecdotal evidence that grades can be artifi‐ to adjust their GPAs by choosing courses they will find cially inflated to improve ratings is provided by results easy, rather than through moderating their efforts [6]. of a survey at the University of Western Ontario [3]. In FAUW FORUM PAGE 9 this survey, one professor wrote that he knew of pro‐ tively lower (or higher) grades than their peers in the fessors who “pander to the students and give out classroom, regardless of their level of understanding higher grades before the evaluation”. Another instruc‐ of the course material, can receive grades that are tor wrote that some instructors “teach to the evalua‐ above (or below) what they ought to be. tions ... by manipulating grades,” which he argued Given the correlation between course averages was “certainly the rational thing to do ... given the and SET, several solutions have been proposed to merit reward structure” at Western. simultaneously increase the effectiveness of SET and Finally, GI has been attributed to pressure placed reduce any dependency on SET ratings. Alternate on instructors from university administration. At the methods of evaluating instructors with teaching ob‐ University of Waterloo, a survey of faculty members servations or teaching portfolios can be used to ob‐ in Applied Health Sciences (AHS), Engineering, Sci‐ tain information about teaching quality for personnel ence, and Math, found that instructors in the Math decisions and decrease an over‐dependency on SET Faculty felt significantly more pressure to bell their [1]. grades than their peers in these other faculties [8]. This pressure was dramatically exemplified in that same year when the Dean of Mathematics increased Conclusions final grades of an advanced calculus course without It is difficult with only the data used in this article the professor’s knowledge or authorization [4]. to determine the source of the GI observed from 1988/89 to 2006/07. Admittedly, the extent to which it was caused by any increase in the efforts and capa‐ Reform bilities of our students is impossible to ascertain with GI makes it difficult for potential employers of only this data. graduating students to assess and compare students I also feel that the issues and data presented here from different institutions and academic backgrounds. deserve more attention and discussion within our A solution to this situation is being addressed by some campus, and I would be more than happy to present a schools, which are now providing additional informa‐ more detailed analysis of this data to members of any tion on student transcripts [9]. Such information in‐ department or faculty at UW. But at the very least, I cludes information about the number of students hope this article will generate discussion on grading enrolled in each class, and the average grade in each standards at UW and what measures, if any, UW fac‐ class. This does not directly address GI, but helps em‐ ulty may want to consider to address the issues pre‐ ployers put grades into perspective. sented in this article. Few Canadian post‐secondary institutions post grade distribution data on their website to be avail‐ able for the general public. Without grade data avail‐ Acknowledgments able to the faculty members, it seems difficult for I would like to thank Everett Vincent and the IAP them to be aware of any changes in departmental office for providing the UW data used in this arti‐ grading standards. As such, having relevant and up‐to‐ cle. Svitlana Taraban‐Gordon and the Center for date grade statistics readily available would at the Teaching Excellence are acknowledged for their assis‐ very least increase a level of transparency that would tance in the Spring 2008 semester with my grade in‐ help future discussions on, for example, GI and flation project which provided the basis for this re‐ changes in failure rates on our campus. These issues search. I would also like to thank Edward Vrscay, Paul will likely be relevant to our faculty members in the Nijjar, and David Wang for their ideas and encourage‐ future and may require a higher level of awareness ment. and discussion. Administrators at some universities maintain a References desired grade distribution each year by encouraging some instructors to have their grades fit to a particu‐ [1] Beran T, Vioato C, Kline D, What's the "use" of stu‐ lar distribution, or by providing instructors each se‐ dent ratings of instruction for administrators? mester the departmental averages for their courses One university's experience. CJHE, 37/1, 27‐43, they teach [9]. However, one immediate problem 2007 with this approach is that students that have rela‐ PAGE 10 ISSUE 140

[2] Cedrone K, Skyrocketing Failure Rates Under Inves‐ [7] McKeachie W, Student Ratings: The Validity of tigation. The Iron Warrior, A Newspaper for the Use. American Psychologist, 52/11, 1218‐1225, University of Waterloo Engineering Society, 29/4, 1997 2008 [8] Miller S, Goyder J, The Eroding Standards Issue: A [3] Côté J, Allahar A, Ivory Tower Blues, University of Case Study from the University of Waterloo. Toronto Press. 2007 CJHE, 30/3, 2000 [4] Faculty Association of the University of Waterloo [9] Rosovsky H, Hartley M, Evaluation and the acad‐ (FAUW) Forum, issues 104, 105, 106, 111, 112, emy: Are we doing the right thing? Cambridge, 113, 116, at http://www.uwfacass.uwaterloo.ca MA: American Academy of Arts and Sciences, [5] Greenwald A, Applying social psychology to reveal 2002 a major (but correctable) flaw in student evalua‐ tions of teaching. 1996 Note: A more complete version of this article with [6] Johnson V, Grade inflation: A crisis in college edu‐ more analysis is available on the FAUW Online Forum cation. 2003 (http://www.fauw.uwaterloo.ca)

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