Frustration with reinforcement
I completely understand the benefit for giving timely feedback, but in one module it states that you should try to give back graded material the next day or class meeting. This is probably the most difficult aspect of teaching for me in my particular situation. Small assignments are no problem, but I have essays to grade. I could rush through them and give limited feedback--but what help would that really be? Also, the pay structure for instructors at my school does not offer any pay for hours outside of classroom instruction. I spend more time outside of class correcting and planning for the course than actual classroom instruction, so my question is where is the motivation for the instructor? Yes, yes, I am aware that most of us teach for other reasons than just pay, but it gets frustrating when we are expected to sacrifice our time and family for the benefit of the students and school without any type of compensation for all the extra time and energy we put into making the class as meaningful as possible. Sorry that it seems like I am venting, I am just curious if my thoughts and experiences are an isolated case, or if others feel the same way.
Hi Rachel,
Good strategies on how to fairly and consistently evaluate student work. I use a rubric with my students work as well. To me this is the only way to evaluate their work that you can defend fairly.
By showing the students the points given in each category of the work you can show them where they earned and lost points. Much easier for students to see than just showing them a score that is 80 points out of a 100.
Gary
When I have to grade essays, it helps to have a rubric. It makes the grading process much easier and it is consistent with all students across the board. Also, I have broken down essay assignments into 3 or 4 smaller assignments over the span of the course. By doing this, you have smaller sections of the essay to grade one at a time. It is quicker to provide students with their grades and feedback this way.
Hi Scott,
I understand exactly where you are coming from with your online teaching. The 3 day expectation is a great time frame within which to operate. The next class period suggestion is designed for on-site classes because there generally a time lag between class meetings that allows instructors to get the assignments and tests graded.
With online by returning the material within three days it shows the students that you are spending some time reviewing their work so they are getting your professional opinion on how they are doing as a result.
Gary
I have found this to be particularly difficult as I teach an online class and students have access to grades at any given point, so the whole 'have things graded by the next class period' is out the window. This is because you don't hand back digital grades back IN the Live Session.
We do have a 3 day expectation on completing grades. Is this enough? Or should I be grading work as it is turned in throughout the hand in day?
But then it goes back onto workload and driving myself insane. Ha!
Getting grade back the next class period, no matter what the assignment, can be hard. I usually try to give an assignment due date so that I have a couple of days before the class meets again. That way in case something happens that I can not grade the assignment right away, I have another day to grade the papers and get them back to the students.
Chris:
This is probably the aspect of teaching I find the most challenging. I try to have a policy that grades will be known fairly quickly in my class. I am not currently big on marking up any papers and such (my class is web coding). However, I have found that if I can give feedback directly during class that even a slight delay in entering grades for a project is not problematic.
I go through the projects in class individually so everyone can learn from everyone else's successes and failures. They essentially know how well they did before leaving class.
Quizzes are the same way. I go through the answers to the quiz right afterwards.
I have the same feelings and frustrations as you do, Chris. I don't think that you are an isolated case. I really struggle in this area of immediate feedback. I don't have to deal with essays much, but I teach programming and I could spend inordinate amounts of time dealing with a single assignment for a single student. I have found that reminding myself to focus on timely and quality feedback, I do much better.
Chad ;-)
Hi Chris,
Don't mind your venting at all. I understand completely. The recommendations in the module is based upon instructors giving feedback in a timely manner as soon as is possible. In your case this might be a number of days for the reasons you shared. Essays do take time to grade, especially if you have a large number of students. The key is to let the students know when they can expect feedback on their assignments and then do the best you can. With teaching one must be realistic and work within the parameters that are given. I wish you much success in your teaching and appreciate your willingness to go the extra mile for your students.
Gary
