STUDENTS AS ECONOMISTS: A GRADING RUBRIC EXPERIMENT by
Addington Coppin
Professor of Economics
School of Business Administration
Oakland University
In prior semesters, the course grading rubric in a required junior-level business-school class included 15
Moodle assignments to be completed by the semester's (Week 10) "drop date." Since students generally felt burdened by the course's out-of-classroom requirements, the rubric was altered in the most recent semester to make the 15 "out-of-classroom" assignments due by the end of the semester. However, no change was made to the assignments schedule, except for the "re-labeling" of some of the earlier assignments as "extra credit." Students were told at the beginning of the semester two opportunities for participation (one regular Moodle assignment and one forum) would be available for their completion each week, with only the assignment being compulsory. Since all assignments and forums were equally weighted, they were free to complete as many as they wanted, with any number in excess of 15 being counted as “extra credit.” [It was thus possible to score as many as 30 participation points.] Students could thus amass the points for 100% of their participation grade in either half of the semester. The semester’s “assignment schedule” for the semester can be seen over-page.
The grading rubric for the course was thus proposed as follows:
Course Component
Midterm #1
Midterm #2
Final
Assignments + class participation
Start date for participation
Beginning of semester
Mid-semester
Beginning of semester
Tentative Date
February 4, 2015
March 18, 2015
April 22, 2015
Varies
End date
Mid-semester
End of semester
End of semester
% of Grade
25%
25%
35%
15%
Possible Points
15
15
30
With this revised assignment schedule, students were observed to complete fewer Moodle assignments by the Week 10 "drop date" deadline, while having the same average midterm grades on the two exams completed by Week 10, as well as on a required "learning assurance assessment” exercise. While students revealed their intent to make up the required assignments during the last one-third of the semester, they appeared to experience “course fatigue.” A higher withdrawal rate was also observed.
Midterm exams (average)
Learning Assurance Assessment
Participation score (Week 10)
Before schedule revision After schedule revision
71% 70%
67%
13
65%
8

ECONOMICS ASSIGNMENTS
1 Revenue and Profit
2 Two "airline industry" segments
3 Chapter 3 Preview
4 Influencing the Demand Equation
Midterm Exam #1
5 Chapter 5 Assignment
6 Homework assignment (Airline OC problem)
7 Homework Assignment (CH. 6)
8 Opportunity Cost Quiz
9 Homework Assignment: Cost Problem
Midterm Exam #2
10 Assurance of Learning Assessment
11 A Two-Stage Game
12 Rev Max Game with Price as Decision Variable
13 Credible vs. Non-Credible Threats
14 Airlines Payoff Game
FORUMS
1 Reaction to video segment on "American Airlines' pricing"
2 Critical Analysis of "Maximizing Revenue" Segment
3 Insights/reflections based on class session Week 2
4 React to video segments: "Who's Flying Plane" and "Move Rig"
5 Critical Analysis of "Airlines Scale Back Service"
6 Determinants of McDonalds' Demand
Midterm Exam #1
7 Critique of AND Comments on the "William Saputo Talks"
8 Fixed Costs vs. Sunk Costs
9 Questions for William Saputo, Jr.
10 Comments on the talk by William Saputo, Jr.
11 The NUMMI case
Midterm Exam #2
12 Reflections on class responses to the NUMMI case
13 Humanizing the "Walmart v. Mom & Pop" saga
14 Golden Balls Game Show
15 A Two-Stage Game
16 Reflections based on Week 13 class session
Original
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Original
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Revised
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15 8
Revised
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Since this course meets a critical thinking requirement for both OU’s general education program as well as the SBA’s AACSB “assurance of learning” requirement, a heavy emphasis will be placed in the first half of the semester on engaging in critical thinking exercises (assignments and forums).
Below are the first five assignments and first five forums/fora, taken from the actual course.
Assignment #1
Please set aside about one hour to undertake the assignment attached here and submit via Moodle prior
to 10:30 a.m. on Monday January 12. Please bring a copy of the assignment to class for your own review, but credit will be given only for uploaded assignments. Since you can only submit ONE file to
Moodle, be sure to make all documents into a single file.
Assignment #2
Please view the following "airline industry-related" segments (also available immediately above this assignment), the goal of which is to generate ideas about how to tackle airline industry revenue and cost issues. As evidence that you have viewed these, please write a paragraph about the content of each segment (i.e., two paragraphs), and a third paragraph relating the content to material that we have touched on thus far. The LENGTH of your write-up should be NO LESS THAN 400 WORDS.
Assignment #3
Please study problem #3 in chapter 3 (a VIDEO LECTURE OF THIS IS AVAILABLE), and then answer the
attached question. YOU MUST UPLOAD YOUR COMPLETED ASSIGNMENT BY 10:30 a.m. on Monday
January 26. Acceptable formats are Word documents and pdf files (no photo files, please). Since you will be able to see what you upload, please ensure that it is CLEAR and LEGIBLE.
Assignment #4
This assignment requires that you watch the segments related to Walmart's success, and then write a
300-word (minimum) summary that focuses on aspects of these segments that deal with the concept of
"DEMAND." Always remember that in this class, you are assumed to be a MANAGER, so your thinking
should reflect how you use the available information to maximize revenue or profit.
Assignment #5
This problem represents the "substantive learning" to be gleaned from chapter 5. As you reflect on it, you will also see its similarity to the revenue maximization problems with which we started the semester (i.e., it is a simple constrained optimization problem, so please do not "over-think" it). To have your answer considered for full credit, please upload your solution to this assignment by 10:30 a.m. on
Wednesday February 11. You should give yourself some time to reflect on your answers, and identify any similarities to and differences from the airline problem that we've studied earlier this semester.

Forum #1
You are expected to participate in this forum prior to the class session of Wednesday January 8. The expectation is that you will spend at least an hour preparing for each class session (i.e., between class sessions). [In fact, the historical expectation by professors is that students study three hours for each contact hour.] For this first assignment, please note that only thoughtful responses will be credited (in other words, if your instructor doesn't find your answer to be a thoughtful one, no credit will be assigned). Also be informed that poor grammar will not receive credit. [I recommend that you draft your
answer (e.g., in Word, where it can be "spell-checked"), and then "copy and paste" into Moodle.]
Forum #2
Critically analyze the following transcript from the "Maximizing Revenue" segment (extracted from the
American Airlines documentary). To receive credit, your response should be a thoughtful (rather than a casual) one (MINIMUM: 200 words). No "rambling," no "padding," no "opinion!" Just solid, well-thought out analysis. You may have already commented on this, so now I want a closer critical analysis than
might have been done before, on a smaller portion of that video segment (below). It is recommended that you draft your response prior to posting it (this would prove to be the best way to meet the requirements listed above)! Use of as many numbers as you can also indicates you are connecting the
video to the course! Please respond by using the "Reply" option rather than by adding another
discussion to this topic. Your analysis should reveal what you've learned so far in an economics class, and must be made by Monday January 12 at 10:20 a.m.
Forum #3
Critically analyze (i.e., "analyze" and "critique" or "criticize" wherever possible) the video segment
" Airlines Scale Back Service as Oil Prices Soar ". To count for credit, your response should be a minimum
of 300 words. [I recommend that you draft your response before posting. If you are merely restating
what is being said, then you are NOT analyzing.]
Forum #4
I want you to respond to the "learning" in Wednesday's class. To receive credit, your reaction must be a
"thoughtful" one (rather than a casual one) that shows something that you've learned based on thinking about our class conversation. As usual, please respond by hitting REPLY to my DISCUSSION forum topic.
Forum #5
I want you to watch the TWO video segments " Who's Flying Your Plane " and " Move the Rig " (both from
PBS Frontline's "Flying Cheap"), and then provide a reaction that relates to some aspect of the learning thus far this semester.
You must use the language of the course: costs, revenues, profits, constraints, price (or wage)
discrimination, etc. Also, always remember to put yourself in the position of "an involved manager" when you are thinking through the material of this course. [I am aware of the emotions that arise from
these segments. However, your analysis is expected to be of a "clinical" nature, minus emotions!]