Kurall_creator Offical Thread

[Slappo]

[quote name='Kurall_Creator' post='1855544' date='May 2 2009, 10:23 AM']Oh, I'm in Canada too - so there's a different grading scale here than in the States. The fact you need 76 per cent to show basic competency is a little steep, and is probably why there is such a bad environment in inner city schools (after all, if you need 70+ per cent to be considered basically competent in something), there is little chance for advancement in that kind of society, unless you put 4 times more work than anybody else, so why try?[/quote]

The crappy thing about American grading is a C is considered bad by most students. Getting a C in American is no longer an "average" grade. The American grading [b]scale[/b] is fine, the problem is the work is given higher grades then it really should be.

It would make sense that you need a 75% for average. It shows competancy in the field. If you only got a 60% then it shows that you missed 40% of the information you could have learned which is a huge portion. 75% means you understood a big majority of the material but have yet to master the subject as there was still a large portion of material to be learned. In masters work you need an 86% to get a passing grade for the class You need a B in all masters courses to get credit to graduate, and the % scale for the letter grades are different. An 85% is a -B in graduate work (at most schools). If you are getting your "Masters" degree in a field then you should have a very high level of competency, 86+%. You have missed understanding very little information in the class (a [b]maximum[/b] of 14% is missed).

Graduate work is usually graded more critically. Not only are the classes harder, but the teacher is more critical of your work. I think that the teacher ought to be as critical of an undergraduate students work as he is of a graduate students work and the only difference between the two should be the complexity and amount of material being learned. A 100 class level paper should be graded as critically as a 700 level paper. The freshmen undergraduate student then learns from his mistakes. If this were done, I also think that the freshmen student ought to be able to revise his work, correct his mistakes, and then raise his mark on the work by turning it in again.

[Slappo]

[quote name='Kurall_Creator' post='1855612' date='May 2 2009, 11:21 AM']I haven't been to other schools, but Loyalist College is an accredited college in Ontario, so I would theorize yes.

The reason, accredited schools get government funding for each student in the class. So the marks will be a little more just. In Slappo's class, only students with a 76 per cent average could go onto the next year - which would probably eliminate 70+ per cent of the class every single year. . .[/quote]

I have a feeling that it is a lot easier to get a 76% in American then it is to get even a 65% in Canada.

Students here [b]complain[/b] if they only get a 76% on their work. The top 10% of my graduating class has somewhere around a 3.7gpa (a 90-92% average).

I got 104% in one of my classes this semester since extra credit was offered. This semester my marks are all within the 90-100% range (except the one that was 104), and will probably all actually be a 93 or higher. I'm not some super genius either, that is just how much more relaxed the grading of our work is.

What I might get a 100% on here in America, might only get an 80% grade in Canada, or even less. That is what is sad about America's schools.

Some of the harder schools like Stanford, Juliard, Harvard, Notre Dame, etc have a much stricter grading scale, but many many acredited American colleges give out high grades for poor work. For instance, in my seminar class of 12 students, every single one of us is getting an A (93-100%).

[Kurall_Creator]

[quote name='Slappo' post='1855613' date='May 2 2009, 02:22 PM']The crappy thing about American grading is a C is considered bad by most students. Getting a C in American is no longer an "average" grade. The American grading [b]scale[/b] is fine, the problem is the work is given higher grades then it really should be.

It would make sense that you need a 75% for average. It shows competancy in the field. If you only got a 60% then it shows that you missed 40% of the information you could have learned which is a huge portion. 75% means you understood a big majority of the material but have yet to master the subject as there was still a large portion of material to be learned. In masters work you need an 86% to get a passing grade for the class You need a B in all masters courses to get credit to graduate, and the % scale for the letter grades are different. An 85% is a -B in graduate work (at most schools). If you are getting your "Masters" degree in a field then you should have a very high level of competency, 86+%. You have missed understanding very little information in the class (a [b]maximum[/b] of 14% is missed).

Graduate work is usually graded more critically. Not only are the classes harder, but the teacher is more critical of your work. I think that the teacher ought to be as critical of an undergraduate students work as he is of a graduate students work and the only difference between the two should be the complexity and amount of material being learned. A 100 class level paper should be graded as critically as a 700 level paper. The freshmen undergraduate student then learns from his mistakes. If this were done, I also think that the freshmen student ought to be able to revise his work, correct his mistakes, and then raise his mark on the work by turning it in again.[/quote]

You are in university. I'm not.

Colleges are much different in Canada than in the states.

Especially in animation - it isn't so much about how much do you understand, but what you demonstrate. The idea is if you are demonstrating competency, than you understand it.

I only had 2 final exams in my course - Networking and Programing, and networking was the only one that was a standard test - i.e. - questions you answer. Programing final was - create a program that does this from scratch - again, it's showing your knowledge through competency, not testing.

Animation isn't so much, how much knowledge do you have, but how well you do it. How do you test someone on how to animate?

That is why at the beginning of the second semester in my first year they say - You have a final animation, it has to be at least 10 seconds long, and can be on anything you choose to do, but we recommend you stick to the storyboard you created for Lisa's class last semester. You have until the end of the semester to create it. That assignment is worth 40 per cent of our final mark for a 5 credit course.

They'll know if you understand how to do something by how well you do that. Animation is something that you can't be tested doing, except through the final product.

They also have other smaller assignments for you to do.

The same thing through web design - added unto that - part of the mark in web design is a group project, and half your mark in the group project is how well you worked in with the group (again, how does that test knowledge?)

Advertising and Marketing also had a small group project, and again, half the mark for that was how well you worked with others in your group.

In September, there is a year-long group project, and again - half your mark will be on how well you worked with the group.

Edited May 2, 2009 by Kurall_Creator

[Slappo]

[quote name='Kurall_Creator' post='1855632' date='May 2 2009, 11:38 AM']You are in university. I'm not.

Colleges are much different in Canada than in the states.[/quote]

College and university in America are pretty synonymous. Usually the difference is in the size of the school and nothing else.

What you are describing sounds more like our technical institutions for specific studies.

[Kurall_Creator]

[quote name='Slappo' post='1855618' date='May 2 2009, 02:27 PM']I have a feeling that it is a lot easier to get a 76% in American then it is to get even a 65% in Canada.

Students here [b]complain[/b] if they only get a 76% on their work. The top 10% of my graduating class has somewhere around a 3.7gpa (a 90-92% average).

I got 104% in one of my classes this semester since extra credit was offered. This semester my marks are all within the 90-100% range (except the one that was 104), and will probably all actually be a 93 or higher. I'm not some super genius either, that is just how much more relaxed the grading of our work is.

What I might get a 100% on here in America, might only get an 80% grade in Canada, or even less. That is what is sad about America's schools.

Some of the harder schools like Stanford, Juliard, Harvard, Notre Dame, etc have a much stricter grading scale, but many many acredited American colleges give out high grades for poor work. For instance, in my seminar class of 12 students, every single one of us is getting an A (93-100%).[/quote]

I had that thought myself.

I put in probably 30 hours of homework a week beyond classes to get that 82 so far. . .

I remember back in first semester, I got 60s for my drawings in animation class. The same prof looked at my character drawings for art direction for my final there, an art history essay about the animation of the 1930s-1960s, and I made the comment, "remember what my drawings were like last semester,". He smirked.

I am so proud of myself that I got a 75 on my drawing portion of my last assignment for art diretion. Lisa saw my drawings, and the first thing she said, Mark your drawing has improved quiet a lot. I said that it's because I'm doing lots of things in XSI, and once you learn how to do a character in XSI, than it translates well on paper, as you first draw the skeleton of the drawing first, and then conform the shape of the character around that skeleton.

Art is hard to grade, as it isn't so much knowledge, but how good it looks, and my course has some hard markers in that regards. A lot of the more technical people, and the lazy people, are always complaining. . .

Edited May 2, 2009 by Kurall_Creator

[Slappo]

For University here we have the choice of doing either a seminar presentation or a thesis paper our senior year. The seminar presentation goes like this:
We are given a topic by the instructor.
We pick a specific field within that topic (my topic was moral theology)
We must give a 20-30 minute presentation and then undergo questions asked by the professor and students for the remainder of the 50 minute class period.

That is about as practical application as most degrees at my university get into. It shows competancy in the field by being able to present the knowledge that we know. Since my degree is a bachelor's in liberal arts there is no practical application such as web design or even accounting. The practical use of the degree is some form of teaching, therefore presenting information in a seminar (basically teaching a class) is the only way to apply the knowledge.

Other classes we might take can be done seminar style where we are assigned a book and have to present on the information within the book, but most classes are just lecture style.

Because your field of studies is much more practical it makes sense to test on your ability to apply the skills you are learning. For me we wouldn't learn very much if the class was always run that way.

[Slappo]

If I were to do all the homework assigned and do it to the best of my ability taking in all the information I ought to, it would take me probably around 30 hours a week (if not, more), but I can spend maybe half of that time and still get an A in the class. Most of my homework is reading and often times you don't have to have read the book to do well in the class. I didn't read a single assigned book for some of my classes and I got A's in them.

[Kurall_Creator]

[quote name='Slappo' post='1855640' date='May 2 2009, 02:46 PM']College and university in America are pretty synonymous. Usually the difference is in the size of the school and nothing else.

What you are describing sounds more like our technical institutions for specific studies.[/quote]

That is what colleges are in Canada.

My college has 60+ programs, and from the two I took from there, it is competency driven material, where university is more theoretical based.

Sheridan, for instance, is the most 'famous' art school in Canada. It's grads usually end up working for Pixar and Disney. . . But they're 3d-animation program has you drawing stuff for the first year, and taking lots of theory on animation and stuff, and towards the end of the second year you crack open Mya (a once competitor of XSI - both are now own by the same company).

In my course - within the first week, we opened up XSI, and went on from there. Much different focuses - but usually they end up in the same place, if the students want to work hard.

I don't have much in the thought of gen. ed courses - except networking, digital concepts (building computers from scratch), and new media ethics. I'm not expected to take Philosophy, history, math, or anything else, unless I am not meeting the criteria for the program (i.e. - if they need your math level at 60 per cent for grade 10 math - then you'd have to take it on your own time to get your mark there.)

[Kurall_Creator]

[quote name='Slappo' post='1855646' date='May 2 2009, 02:52 PM']For University here we have the choice of doing either a seminar presentation or a thesis paper our senior year. The seminar presentation goes like this:
We are given a topic by the instructor.
We pick a specific field within that topic (my topic was moral theology)
We must give a 20-30 minute presentation and then undergo questions asked by the professor and students for the remainder of the 50 minute class period.

That is about as practical application as most degrees at my university get into. It shows competancy in the field by being able to present the knowledge that we know. Since my degree is a bachelor's in liberal arts there is no practical application such as web design or even accounting. The practical use of the degree is some form of teaching, therefore presenting information in a seminar (basically teaching a class) is the only way to apply the knowledge.

Other classes we might take can be done seminar style where we are assigned a book and have to present on the information within the book, but most classes are just lecture style.

Because your field of studies is much more practical it makes sense to test on your ability to apply the skills you are learning. For me we wouldn't learn very much if the class was always run that way.[/quote]

Things are much different for me. In universities in Canada, you'd have a similar kind of work load there. Lots of liberal arts stuff for you to take. Getting into a more specialized school, like Biology and Physics are harder to get into, and have much higher expectations.

Having a seminar stuff would be probably the way to go with a knowledge based course. It must be nerve racking to wonder what people are thinking of you when you are in front of them, giving a seminar, and answering questions.

For me, I am always wondering, since art is subjective, rather than objective, is my assignments good enough. I figured when I asked my prof what my marks were for my minor assignments this semester, I would have a 50-60 in them. . .

Everytime he gives me my marks, though, they are B+s - As.



I know it is 100 per cent true now. When you are an artist for anything (novelist, animator, or anything else that is rated and evaluated by someone else), you always see what you could have done better when you finish your final project. . .

It can get so nerve racking sometimes.

[Kurall_Creator]

I just left a facebook status update about how I couldn't wait to sit down and start my next issue of Kurall on facebook, and someone clicked the I like this option!

I am so excited, and being the cleaver marketer that I am, I saved the link to that status update, so I can show whoever I am going to develop the full idea of Kurall's Story, people are already excited about Kurall!

[Kurall_Creator]

Yesterday, someone filled out my form on my site and gave me the following ratings.

rating: 5

body: The game looks really good. Good luck with it!

Edited May 3, 2009 by Kurall_Creator

[Kurall_Creator]

Second person clicked I like option on my facebook status!

Yes!

[missionseeker]

I my major classes, a 70 and below is an F...

fun.

[Kurall_Creator]

[quote name='missionseeker' post='1856074' date='May 2 2009, 10:08 PM']I my major classes, a 70 and below is an F...

fun.[/quote]

Ouch, but you're in America right.

Me and Slappo kinda discussed this. Up here, in my college, you need a 60 to go on to the next year, which we consider a C, if a C was 76 like his college, the majority of students would fail, and wouldn't be returning.

After I said that, he said that an 80 would probably be closer to 95 in his course. . .

Beyond that, I did homework probably 30 hours a week just to get the 82 in my course. I know my final project took 14 Tuesdays to work on - that's 14 weeks * 10 hours (140 hours) + 4-6 hours a day in March (20 days * 5 - 100 hours), and 30 hours of rendering, and polishing - so that was 250+ hours - or about 13-14 hours a week on that. Then add Web Design, Art Direction, Programing, Networking, Marketing, and CD/DVD to that - I did a lot to get that 82. . .

But you're in a masters, and I wouldn't expect anything less. After all, you are saying you are a master expert in the subject. You better prove it!

Edited May 3, 2009 by Kurall_Creator

[missionseeker]

yes i am in America, but, still. Generally a 70 is a C