It is best to use your time wisely and multitask while grading
exams and tests.
I wish we had scantron, but instead, I will be grading with bubble sheets. I will punch holes out for the correct answers on my copy, and if the answers don't line up, I will know it is incorrect. I know this will save time!
We also use TII when necessary. But there are also other resources such as Engrade that will grade assessment for you.
I am lucky enough to say that our grading process is exactly in line with the 50/50 rule concerning tests and homeworks. I feel this truly makes life a lot smoother for our instructors.
At my school I have a school portal that keeps track of our grades thank goodness. I do let the students grade each other's weekly quizzes which saves a tremendous amount of time. I also use the Scantron system to grade the final exams to save time too.
Grading the papers is what takes time. I will consider using the technique in the future of asking them to underline the important details. I can see how that would help a lot.
I do save my grading rubrics in one file so that the next time I need it I can just copy and paste it into the comments section and modify the scores for each student.
Christopher, So happy to hear you are leveraging this tool to enhance your grading process. It's amazing how many tools are out there and available to us if we just look around. Some are paid and yet others are free through our publishers.
Dr. Melissa Read
Maria, It sure will. Go ahead and give the underlining method a try. Circling and bolding work too. Note that if essay questions are giving you challenges, you might consider mixing up your question formats so they are one of multiple formats you grade in each test.
Dr. Melissa Read
I am quite the fan of Engrade. It makes the establishment and maintenance (grades for homework, tests, etc) so much easier. The fact that it is in one spot makes streamlining my time even better!
I am currently an instructor for a class that has a ton more grading than any of the other classes I teach or know of at the school. 7 of the assignments are 40 questions each fill in blank type answers that take a way too much time to grade. I know my time is over taxed in that class because of the excessive amount of grading required. Students are required to look up specifications and tolerances in Service Manuals in order to fill in the blanks of the questions. I am wondering if it would take away from the educational value of the project to turn them into multiple choice. I am thinking maybe that is the way to go. I will talk to my education manager about this idea as well as talk to my fiance, who has her bachelor degree in education. What do you think? Thanks!!!
Most of my exams are essay types which helps me to determine if a student had comprehension of the subject matter but these are the types of questions that are hardest to check because its so time-consuming. Asking the students to underline the base answer they made will really help a lot.
Since I teach a variety of courses, it depends on the course. For introductory medical coding classes, I provide a mixture of multiple choice and fill in the blank questions. The fill in the blank questions are the questions where the students will have to supply the correct code. For other classes, I try to use multiple choice and true false formats. Sometimes the fill in the blank piece does become a bit time consuming, however I want to make sure the student understands the medical coding process and not simply look up all of the multiple choice answers provided. For future exams and homework, I will definitely consider the methods discussed in the module for effective time management.
Miyuki, You make an important point. Some specific q
Dr. Melissa Read
I truly believe in the way I format my examinations. While they may take longer to grade they truly do offer the instructor a chance to understand if students can explain themselves with clarity and efficacy.
All students learn differently, I've seen some students do better in short answers, some do better in essay format... So, I try to include multiple formats with in a test. That give all my students a chance to get a decent grade. The grading process is not too bad, I grade all the essays first, then I moved to the multiple choices and so on...
All students learn differently, I've seen some students do better in short answers, some do better in essay format... So, I try to include multiple formats with in a test. That give all my students a chance to get a decent grade. The grading process is not too bad, I grade all the essays first, then I moved to the multiple choices and so on...
I have been teaching at the same college for over 32 years, and I have watched the testing process go through many changes…from those ‘nasty’ mimeographed copies (maybe that why I despise the color purple)…to photocopied exams…to the ‘ScanTron’ cards…to the computer age. I LOVE what can be handled through computer access and the fact that there is a permanent non-paper trail to connect with for recordkeeping. Also, it is a great way to connect with students as they are constantly misplacing the hard copies handed out in class – computer access through the school’s “Portal’ allows them the security of knowing that the syllabi and handouts are always a ‘click’ away…actually, now they have no excuse not to be responsible for following through with scheduled assignments ïŠ
I have students write a lot of reflections as homework assignments and I believe that incorporating short answer/multiple choice assignments into the class will save tons of time on grading.
Jennifer, Excellent to hear! Sounds like you already have a great system in place and are also making some plans to streamline things even more in the future. Wonderful direction and I'm sure it will be well worth the investment.
Dr. Melissa Read
Ater having taught the same course 1-3 session each term for almost 8 years, I have streamlined my evaluatons over the years. It took some time to to, but I have slowly moved to scantron Exams. Grading takes minues instead of hours! Homework assignments vary in how they are submitted, but I tend to have them uploaded to the portal so they are accessable wherever I happen to grade. I also have started to utilize the portals online test for text chapter quizzes... they are automatically graded and posted. These have been a huge time saver!
I like to use m/c and t/f exams with one or two essay exams at the end. I will use the underline technique next time grading the essay exams. I think the key terms or wording will be great tool to not waste time in grading.
I wrote down the websites mentioned in this section. I am interested in learning about the easytestmaker and quizstar.
