Rowan Spazzoli

Seth Godin was the person who inspired me to start this blogging journey. He writes every day, sometimes only a few lines, and his nuggets of wisdom are awesome.

His post today, titled The Unfair Advantage, is about how caring more can create an incredible advantage, in business or in life. It’s difficult to do, but it keeps people coming back.

In the courses I run, we’re disadvantaged in a few ways. We don’t have the biggest administrative capacity. The marking process is highly subjective (unlike something like accounting) which frustrates students. And the concepts are sometimes difficult to grasp as they are often quite abstract and “fluffy”

But over the last few years we’ve developed a culture that sets us apart for many students

We care more.

If you’re struggling in a course we set you up with a mentor to help you. If you’ve had a family emergency we’ll support you and get you back on track when you return. If you are having a career crisis we’ll find a way to guide you onto the path that’s right for you.

We help our students start businesses. We encourage them with activities outside the course. We take an interest in their growth and development.

For some students, this doesn’t matter. They’re fine without us. But for others we have the ability to change their whole world. It’s difficult, and it means going over and above the call of duty. But it’s worth it.

We care more

Image is from my students’ Genesis project demo day (as part of their Postgraduate Diploma in Entrepreneurship). I’m not involved in their project but drove to campus specifically to see their event and ended up buying one of their fantastic products

In the course that I lecture on, we assign students a final paper entitled “My Leadership Manifesto.” In this paper the students are to discuss their understanding of leadership and critique the leadership concepts they’ve been taught. Following this, they outline what type of leader they’d like to be and the leadership style they’d like to pursue in the future.

I love this assignment, as it forces students to really engage with the course content and reflect on their own leadership style going forward.

However, I have found it incredibly difficult to grade it. It’s not that there aren’t some great ones and some terrible ones, it’s more that a grade doesn’t properly reflect what has gone on. The difference between a 63 and 68 makes no sense, particularly when you consider how highly subjective these papers are.

And this is one of the most difficult things about academia for me. That we’re forced to give marks for work that is highly subjective and dependent on the student and their way of thinking. In some instances, such as accounting and mathematics exams, it makes sense to grade a student. But when it comes to personal reflections and subjective writing, which happen in both the Strategy and the Management courses I lecture on, it makes little sense.

If I were to grade these in my own way, I’d first and foremost focus on the feedback, as this is a crucial part of learning. Then there would be three grading levels according to how the student has met their own potential: outstanding, commendable and insufficient. This would then pave the way for proper reflective learning.

Unfortunately, putting in place such a system within a hierarchal, mechanistic organization such as the university is difficult. However, I hope that one day we’ll move toward a marking system that is tailored toward learning and not towards an arbitrary allocation of marks.

And maybe our students would be better for it.

Image is of the exam tents that UCT has erected on campus. Exams are another outdated form of assessment which are in dire need of an review