Grading--Confused
I have a question about grading assignments. I'm currently teaching a course about information systems for healthcare professionals. All the end of the chapter questions are critical thinking. When grading review questions that only allow students to answer two per chapter...How many points would they be worth? I'm considering 5 pts per question. Is that enough? Any suggestions??
Hi Michael,
I feel this is fair, but you should come up with guidelines to determine how much partial credit is given for partial answers.
Patricia
Condra,
When grading critical thinking questions there is no exact right or wrong answer. I believe you have to know the key points that have to be discussed. If all of the points are discussed in the answer then the student would be given full credit. If not then partial credit should be given.
Mike
This method worked well in the High School classes i taught. The focus of the students was on earning enough points not on acquiring a grade.
that is exactly the method I use as well
Yes... but I also thought to just say if they turn in the assignment even if its right or wrong they still get the points. That definitely wouldn't be fair because that means every student would have full points. The idea you impose is a great one!!! I'll look for key answers to these questions....The instructor's manual have the answer as well:)
Hi Tonya,
Absolutely!
Patricia
So I'm thinking you feel like you need to assign more points so that you can give partial credit if they get some information right re: the questions? So does that mean the questions are discussion type? If this is the case, then to be less subjective in grading, you might want to list what points you feel need to be addressed to completely answer each question. You could then assign point value to the questions according to that number and still use the number of points earned/number of points available. That way you would would get a % grade for the questions assigned for each chapter to calculate for the final grade. Does this soulnd more like what you have in mind?
Hmmm,
Ok well I have a course where its lots of critical thinking. The questions isn't just one word answers. You may have just two questions for the whole assignment. I'm thinking 5 pts a piece or should they count more? Just a thought.
I also like to use this method. I've heard it referred to as the "total points earned/total points available" method. and the slash literally means divided by! This actually results in the % correct as the score. - Tonya
Hi Condra,
I typically calculate my grades by taking the number students got correct and dividing it by the total # of questions. Ex. If there were 18 questions total and the student missed 2, I take 16/18 and a score of 89 is given.
Patricia
