FERPA and team-based learning
January 17, 2011 7:24 AM Subscribe
Does experiential learning in the classroom break FERPA protocol?
FERPA is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Acts which sets limitations on what kind of student information may be shared. One element is that grades may not be publicly shared.
I'm wondering how this applies to experiential learning, where students learn in teams and are evaluated as they go by the professor. For example, in some nursing schools, students participate in simulations where students work together as teams to diagnose the patient, then are evaluated on-the-spot by the instructor.
I've had some faculty tell me that they are uncomfortable with this because they believe the public evaluation breaks FERPA in that professors may not publicly post grades. I could see how the rule could be twisted to this effect, but I'm having a bit of trouble wrapping my head around a counter-argument. Is this type of learning/evaluation breaking FERPA policy? When students work in teams and evaluated in teams, do those evaluations violate a student's right to privacy?
I'm looking for answers from people who are familiar with FERPA, and have had to navigate FERPA rules in the school system. Thanks!
(Anonymous as this concerns my job.)
FERPA is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Acts which sets limitations on what kind of student information may be shared. One element is that grades may not be publicly shared.
I'm wondering how this applies to experiential learning, where students learn in teams and are evaluated as they go by the professor. For example, in some nursing schools, students participate in simulations where students work together as teams to diagnose the patient, then are evaluated on-the-spot by the instructor.
I've had some faculty tell me that they are uncomfortable with this because they believe the public evaluation breaks FERPA in that professors may not publicly post grades. I could see how the rule could be twisted to this effect, but I'm having a bit of trouble wrapping my head around a counter-argument. Is this type of learning/evaluation breaking FERPA policy? When students work in teams and evaluated in teams, do those evaluations violate a student's right to privacy?
I'm looking for answers from people who are familiar with FERPA, and have had to navigate FERPA rules in the school system. Thanks!
(Anonymous as this concerns my job.)
A public evaluation, at least as I've experienced it (note: not much), isn't an explicit grade. Sure, you know that the instructor's said "Bob, you should adjust your technique this way and that way," or "Yes, great job Jenny!" but you don't know if Jenny's getting a B- and the praise had to do with how she really screwed up her first exam, or if the instructor considers Bob's errors to be modest ones.
In other words, in most educational environments, qualitative verbal feedback is not a formal grade, and it's formal grades that are restricted.
I am not a lawyer, an educator, or anything else like that, and I have zero formal involvement in the educational or legal worlds.
posted by Tomorrowful at 7:43 AM on January 17, 2011
In other words, in most educational environments, qualitative verbal feedback is not a formal grade, and it's formal grades that are restricted.
I am not a lawyer, an educator, or anything else like that, and I have zero formal involvement in the educational or legal worlds.
posted by Tomorrowful at 7:43 AM on January 17, 2011
The FERPA tutorials at my educational institution are really focused on grade-specific information, as well as discussion of a student's specific grade-performance with persons other than the student (like, for instance, telling Mom that Junior needs lots of extra credit to get a C). The FERPA materials gloss over in-class feedback that other students will hear and observe to the point where it feels to me like a non-issue. Perhaps this is because a successful class requires immediate feedback. I teach constitutional law, not nursing, but if someone in class tries to take a discussion of a case down a very wrong path, I have to give immediate feedback in order to teach the class how to read the case, how to interpret the case, how to argue effectively from a plausible position.
In lecture classes, of course, I don't end the lecture by critiquing the conversation (Jane, your analysis raised a little-discussed but tricky point. or Bob, you ran afoul of a common logical fallacy) as will happen in practical courses. However, as I understand it, practical courses, like lecture courses, are not necessarily graded solely on outcomes. This is why student "show their work" on math exams. Grades come from the student's grasp of the material, its context, its application and the sophistication of the student's understanding of all three. Therefore, immediate evaluation of a student's work in a simulation is not nearly as analogous to a formal grade or a formal grade-performance metric as it would need to be to run afoul of FERPA's guidelines.
As a teacher, I could not possibly perform to a fair level of competence if my students had to learn in an environment completely devoid of immediate feedback from the professor to all students.
posted by crush-onastick at 8:05 AM on January 17, 2011
In lecture classes, of course, I don't end the lecture by critiquing the conversation (Jane, your analysis raised a little-discussed but tricky point. or Bob, you ran afoul of a common logical fallacy) as will happen in practical courses. However, as I understand it, practical courses, like lecture courses, are not necessarily graded solely on outcomes. This is why student "show their work" on math exams. Grades come from the student's grasp of the material, its context, its application and the sophistication of the student's understanding of all three. Therefore, immediate evaluation of a student's work in a simulation is not nearly as analogous to a formal grade or a formal grade-performance metric as it would need to be to run afoul of FERPA's guidelines.
As a teacher, I could not possibly perform to a fair level of competence if my students had to learn in an environment completely devoid of immediate feedback from the professor to all students.
posted by crush-onastick at 8:05 AM on January 17, 2011
In pedagogical circles there is a very clear distinction between "assessment" and "evaluation." The former is ongoing feedback with the goal of improving performance. That's what you're doing with the group in a technique like experiential learning. The latter is discrete feedback designed to measure performance. Often with a grade. That's what you need to give out individually.
I can't speak to the hypothetical interpretations of FERPA in a court of law, but having worked for a couple years with very smart people at a prestigious institution of higher learning whose jobs were focused on helping both fellow professors and students become better educators, I can tell you that they took FERPA deadly seriously. And they strongly promoted many interactive teaching strategies, including experiential learning.
posted by solotoro at 8:22 AM on January 17, 2011
I can't speak to the hypothetical interpretations of FERPA in a court of law, but having worked for a couple years with very smart people at a prestigious institution of higher learning whose jobs were focused on helping both fellow professors and students become better educators, I can tell you that they took FERPA deadly seriously. And they strongly promoted many interactive teaching strategies, including experiential learning.
posted by solotoro at 8:22 AM on January 17, 2011
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Feedback isn't a grade. As long as you aren't calling out "Ms. Robinson: You are a fool, and have earned a 50. Everyone may now laugh at Ms. Robinson" all Paper Chase-like, I would think you would be okay. Telling her, "Ms. Robinson, your patient is now much more likely to have an infection" seems not to be posting a grade, to me.
posted by LucretiusJones at 7:34 AM on January 17, 2011