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Home > HCAS > HCAS_PUBS > HCAS_JOURNALS > TQR Home > TQR > Vol. 22 > No. 9 (2017)

 

Abstract

Grade inflation must be abated. The effect of grade inflation weakens academic standards to the point where accurately assessing levels of competency and student knowledge is difficult to determine. Using intrinsic case study design, I contacted 411 online instructors in the United States exploring potential solutions to abate grade inflation. Of 411 faculty members contacted via personal e-mail, 27 instructors at three regionally accredited online universities in the United States agreed to be interviewed by the use of an interview protocol and recorded via Skype. The research question guiding the study was “What are potential solutions to abate grade inflation?” The research addressed a gap in research related to potential solutions to abate grade inflation at online universities located in the United States. Concepts developed from data analysis were (a) use rubrics, (b) revising student evaluations (c) re-evaluating academic policies, (d) instituting objective exams, (e) instructor training program, (f) take instructors out of grading, (g) pass / fail grading, (h) ranking rather than GPA, and (i) best practices.

Keywords

Grade Inflation Solutions, Revising Student Evaluations, Intrinsic Case Study, Academic Policies, Best Practices

Author Bio(s)

David A. Blum earned a Doctor of Business Administration from Walden University, a MBA in Sustainable Business from Marylhurst University, and a Bachelor of Arts in history from Bellarmine University. Dr. Blum is an adjunct faculty member at Facear International University. Correspondence regarding this article can be addressed directly to: davidblum2010@gmail.com.

Publication Date

9-2-2017

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2017.2914

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