Online PhD defence Liudmila Galiullina

Keywords: Academic grading, Grading effects, Higher education, Student motivation

"Three essays on the motivational effects of grading in higher education"

This thesis explored how grading standards affect student motivation in higher education. First, it used a university data set to examine whether some students are sensitive even to the smallest differences in grading (namely, to the marginal differences in the first-period GPA), and found that this was likely to be true for certain groups of students, such as competitive international males. Then the thesis proposed and experimentally tested a simple model of how students respond to different grades. Results from this study provided tailored suggestions for increasing student effort among different types of students. While the focus of the thesis was on the student behavior in a grade-focused environment, the thesis also found that intrinsic motivation plays a surprisingly important role. Finally, the thesis offered ideas for education policy and future research.

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