Coursera, Scores, and Certificates “With Distinction”
As my Internet History Technology, and Security Coursera course is winding down as students take the final, the discussion is turning to the issue of certificates. There will certainly be certificates for those that meet the minimum score. But there is still a discussion around how the certificates look and what the certificates contain.
One student (R.D.R.C.) proposed a great question:
I know that in some of the other courses on Coursera they are giving a Certificate with Distinction for those how score very high, I was wondering if we would have that here since there is no mention of it. Should those with 75 average get the same “commendation (since it isnt accreditation”) as those who scored 95 or above? Was just wondering.
Here is my answer I posted to the course forum
I am not going to distinguish the certificates. There are lots of factors that lead to the ultimate number of points. An important factor for many was technical issues and problems. I do not have the time to double grade 6000 students assignments if there was a glitch. The grade of “75 points” allowed a certificate to be earned by a diligent student even if there were some technical difficulties. I did not want to make points “so valuable” that students would get upset over every little thing that went wrong. If I set some “91″ as “distinguished” – I would start hearing from hundreds of people who got a 90 because there was a bad question or the Coursera software or their Internet connection suffered a glitch on them.
It is also why I am not putting the points earned on the certificate. I was in communication with a student coming to the University of Michgan and he sent me two of his Coursera certificates as evidence of his skill. They were hard courses and so I knew that the certificates represented real work. And the rest of his transcript/resume supported that he was a very talented student.
But his certificates from Coursera had the scores on them – one of his scores was 750 / 700 – and it made me wonder. I did not wonder about the student’s achievement. It make it look to me like the points were too easy to earn – which makes me question the teacher of the class. I too have given “extra credit” in my course – so if you think I am being a little inconsistent – you are right. :) The difference is that in my course, I know *exactly why* I set up grading the way I did and how easy/hard points were to earn. In this other course, I don’t have inside information on how hard points were to get – or what the purpose of extra credit was. My point is that not knowing the grading approach and seeing a 750/700 – caused me to question the *course* but not question not the student’s achievement.
In a course like this, we need to be flexible in awarding points for many reasons – but as a result students who are (a) highly skilled before they come into the class or (b) have nothing go wrong, or (c) have lots of free time and are not juggling family or other schooling achieve these astronomical scores. Including the score to me reduced the value of the certificate IMHO even though the student I was interacting with had an extremely high score. It is like including a grade point averages on a diploma when you graduate – a diploma is far more than your grade point average.
We need to learn in this kind of new teaching and learning pattern that your achievement is not automatically higher because you are in the top 10 percent of the ultimate score. The score is only a proxy / approximation for what you have learned. And what you have taught others as part of a learning community is even more important and hard to measure.
In this class we have some in this course that are near to 120 / 100 – it is great to get these high scores – but it does not diminish those who got 80/100 or even 78/100.
What I am thinking of doing is labeling all the certificates as “the first time the course was taught” (or similar wording) to indicate that you are all pioneers and helped me so much in crafting what the course has become. You are the “first graduating class of the University of IHTS”. From this point forward whenever the course is taught (in Coursera or live) – your contributions wil be part of the course and I thank you.
Although I am not someone who took the course to get a certificate, I think you should think carefully about the wording if you are going to add an additional label. For me, “the first time the course was taught” could be interpreted negatively — like, wow, maybe there were a lot of glitches and problems in that first-time course.” If your intention is to acknowledge the contributions of the students as pioneers, I would write something like “Special Acknowledgement: Contributed to Course Development” or something along those lines.
Btw, the course was excellent. Speaking on behalf of the IHTS fb page people, we all learned a lot, thought you were the most awesome instructor ever, and most of us are going on to take other Coursera courses because IHTS was so good.
Thank you, Dr. Chuck!
Lori
I am a member of this pioneering class, and I wanted to find an opportunity to personally thank you. I enjoyed the course so much and have truly learned a lot. I am a non-technical person (literature teacher), and had been taking coursera courses only in the humanities. I signed up for your course on a bit of a whim. It has been by far my most stimulating coursera experience to date and, in fact, has given me a whole new perspective on the possibilities of online education. I’m taking the introductory programming course next. Thank you so much!
@Dr-Chuck:
“And what you have taught others as part of a learning community is even more important and hard to measure.”
This statement is what makes the course worth taking. Not an ultimate grade. Overall, since I scored 97/100, I thought the course was pretty easy. (I did retake several quizzes to achieve that score.) I am just starting the “Mathematical Thinking” MOOC today and will probably see the ease quickly vanish, making your course a good intro to Coursera’s offerings.
In the IHTS course, I learned things I didn’t know and am now able to easily communicate to others some of the challenges and technical issues that take place every time someone else “points and clicks”. (Packet switching was an impressive approach, independently devised by two thinkers!) This course has deepened my appreciation for how talented individuals cooperate, taking on tasks that require out-of-the-box thinking. Some of these issues and challenges weren’t immediately solved but, in some cases, took months or years. Technologies built from ideas that evolved as the Internet evolved, adding new opportunities such as the WWW. In many areas people had to work around the obstacles that vested (and resisting) interests put before them because those interests felt threatened. Time and again folks overcame those obstacles through skill and commitment. We are now in a world that will never be the same as we’ve taken a quantum leap beyond any communication technology that has occurred before.
Your casual approach to teaching was very comfortable. The only thing I would suggest is more clarity on the peer assessment rubric and perhaps more challenging questions on the quizzes.
My sincere appreciation for your time, knowledge and the opportunity you’ve offered.
This course was great. It will help me at school. I am ICT teacher…
For me, this is the first course on Coursera and the first online course.
I like the explication and I wait for the certificate. :D
Greetings from Romania! :)
I very much intended my course as a “Gateway to Coursera” course where we learn as much about how to use the software and learn together in a low-stakes course that was relatively light and fun. I wil be very gratified if students from IHTS go on to take lots of other courses and are very successful.
Dr. Chuck – I was a member of your IHTS class and it was my first Coursera class. It was a great experience for me! I graduated from law school over 10 years ago and the time/cost of in-person community college courses have been prohibitive when I wanted to learn just for my own benefit. Now I’m enrolled in other Coursera classes, from Securing Digital Democracy with your Michigan colleagues, to Greek & Roman Mythology and I love it. I really enjoyed your class and look forward to receiving my certificate – regardless of wording.
Any charges for the certificates mentioned?