Since I left our class on Wednesday evening, I have been think about contract grading and what it is. When I first herd someone mention that they grade using a contract grading scheme he was talking about it in the context of someone who is unable to complete all requirements of the course but still want to gain the credit for the course. The teacher discussed how he entered into a grading contract which extended deadlines as well as relaxed some of the constraints of the course. Upon hearing I assumed that what a grading contract was an agreement between the teacher and learner stating what will be completed and when. The value of each assignment would be negotiated allowing more flexibility for the learner to concentrate on the things that he could accomplish given any complications.
Now for this class. We are entering into a learning contract for this class. For this contract we need to say what assignments we are planning to do to gain a mark that we are satisfied with. Where I get confused is that all assignments are given a mark where the only way to get 100 is to do all the assignments. The marks are not nogitiable and neither are the due dates. I feel that this is not any different from the standard grading system. Who is to stop me from saying that I will do all the assignments, but only do what I need to to gain a passing grade. Are there any reprocussions for not satisfying the contract. What if I only say that I will do only 80% of the assignments, but complete 95%. Is there encentives to go beyone the contract.
I must be missing something because as I understand it, this learning contract is no different then the standard grading scheme with the exception that it is called a grading contract.