Agnes Aramowicz

Thank you for sharing your time-saving suggestions. I am happy with the idea of keeping some announcements.

Thank you! :)

Kendra Gaines

Julie, where is this magical program? Not only have I never heard of it, I know of no one who uses it. Do I just go to the site you've supplied and pay the money? It almost sounds too good to be true!!

Julie Blair

Alana,

Absolutely!

I use 'shortkeys' which is a boilerplate program where I don't even have to copy and paste any more.

I simply type in the shortkey and it automatically does it.

This saved me about 4 hours of grading time with one particular university because I could boiler plate and then individualize my comments.

www.shortkeys.com

It was the best 20 bucks ever spent!

Gardner Hussey

Alana,

Some announcements are basic to every class. Getting students to read them can be a task. New annoncements have to be listed in the online discussion boards for students to be aware of them. If I have an essay assignment that has topic headings, I will ask students to list the topics in their response and supply their input below the topic headings. This save time in the form of not having to search the for the answer in their response in essay type questions.

Dr. Melissa Read

This is indeed what I love about rubrics Jessica. Not only do they provide a framework for grading, they also enhance the learning process by making studying more focused on the essential information.

Jessica Gleason

I teach online as well and I've never even thought to save my announcements! This is a great idea as I often teach the same course!

I will have to copy and save them from this point on. Thanks for the good advice.

I agree with Carolyn about the rubrics though, they really do help with grading. Not only that, but if you show your students the rubrics ahead of time, they will know exactly what you are looking for and will have less questions both before and after the grading process.

Jessica

Carolyn Jones

Alana,

I teach online as well as in a live classroom, so I've found that keeping MS Word files of all of my announcements and assignments is helpful. I re-read and update them each time I use them, but it certainly saves time.

I've also found that careful rubrics help me save time in grading. First, it ensures that I grade each student fairly and equally, but when I post feedback with the rubric, it provides a firm and detailed grading guide for the student, eliminating a lot of time spent repsonding to questions regarding why or how something was graded.

Carolyn