Hi Folks,
About 15 years ago, some co-authors and I examined grades awarded by full-time faculty whose primary occupation was in higher education versus part-time faculty whose primary occupations were professional or vocational (but were unrelated to higher education). We examined courses primarily in a business degree program. Our findings showed some grading differences among the courses we examined.
I'm curious about opinions from colleagues. Do you believe that any modern differences exist between the grades awarded by full-time versus part-time faculty? Do you believe there is any relationship between faculty status and grading outcomes?
I'd like to hear from both faculty and students.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Have a great day!
--Adrian
Great discussion and very interesting responses. Ashley
It is an interesting area of investigation. In my experience I have observed that full -time faculty also spend time and effort in mentoring students which is more focused on holistic development of individuals. The part-time faculty is active only during the class duration and rarely available for consultation and advice. As far as grades are concerned it is important to have very well-defined scientific criteria for assessment; these can include multiple quizzes, group and focus -group discussions. Examination-based assessment and grading focuses only on academics and not on outcome.Education is an intangible-dominant service; both output(grades) and outcome(value-chain) are equally important
Dear Daniel,
Firstly, it is an interesting field to conduct research. Many alternative scenarios can be produced. For example, some full-time faculties may be more idealistic than non-full times, thus, they can be more rigid. On the otherhand, some full-time faculties may be more generous during grading to be popular among students. However, some non-full times may not have a concern such as being a popular (since it isn't main job of them), they can be more rigid. However, according to me, an analysis like that, should take some other factors (e.g. age, gender, past experiences) into consideration and therefore, these factors should be controlled. Good luck in your study!
Best regards,
Mehmet
Thank you all for your responses. Very insightful and provides some perspectives that I believe may be useful. Thank you!
I believe it is an individual, rather than faculty status (full-time or part-time). As an example, I find I approach my undergraduate and graduate classes differently in grading and approach I take for student assessment. I feel the graduate students should demonstrate their ability to think, rather than just repeat information. My assessment of graduate students reflect their ability to think, rather than repeat and graded "softly" (I am sure higher).
I also agree it is an individual, rather than faculty status (full-time or part-time).
Thank you both -- and I concur to an extent. The work we did ages ago, in some instances, showed that part-time faculty awarded higher grades than did full-time faculty. I've pondered whether it may have been because, as practitioners instead of academicians, they viewed the importance of the subject matter differently or may have considered the course from an occupational perspective (success or failure) instead of academic perspective (multiple grades).
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