Grading Written Assignments That Are Poorly Written
Hi - I teach an online course where there are no tests - everything is either an online discussion or a written project (school's requirement, not mine). These are usually pretty complicated and in depth. The problem is that they take a VERY LONG time to grade and the grades are due within three days, in part because the writing skills of the students are often very poor and they are unable to communicate their thoughts effectively. How can I make the grading process less time consuming?
You make a good point about taking breaks Billie, especially when working with a computer. Starting at the screen for hours can get really tiring and it helps a lot to take a step back.
I too find that having a set rubric for an assignment helps me keep the grading standards consistant so that I can chuck the grading into more than one long grading session. I can only read so many paragraphs or essays on the same theme. Working online and staring at a computer can only be done for a certain length of time. I know that I need to take breaks about every 90 minutes, or I tend to miss things,. When I run into a really bad paper, I will grade it for only a set time and then go to another task. Once my mind is clear again, I will return to that paper and review what I have already marked and then complete the grading. Some papers can be too frustrating to tackle in one session.
Excellent! I'm glad to hear you can leverage some of this course content Jennifer.
That is an excellent observation about the quality of writing. Over the past 2 years I found myself becoming increasingly overwhelmed with grading, even though the assignments had not changed. I actually had to cut my course load from 3 classes to 2, just to keep up.
Finally it dawned on me that I was seeing so many poorly written submissions and just trying to navigate that was really slowing me down. I look forward to reading more posts in this thread because I am always looking for ideas in this area.
That's a great question Mai! For me, it really does come down to grading each question one at a time and making apples-to-apples comparisons between student responses to specific essay questions. I find that I'm faster and more fair in my grading when I use this method.
I take the 2-pass approach as well. It does take some practice and discipline, though, as I automatically want to correct all those misspelled words and run-on sentences as soon as I see them!
I agree that grading essays, especially poorly written ones, is painstaking and very time-consuming.
That is an interesting idea to divide up the grading into chunks. I find, though, that I grade more consistently when I grade all submissions for an assignment at the same time, especially if it is an essay. I wonder if others have the same experience? How do you ensure grading consistency across all papers, especially if you don't grade them all at the same time?
Tasha,
I do that as well. I break down the grading of assignments into a few days, if possible. Even "chunking" them, and grading some in the morning and others at night is helpful. I provide examples of poor writing and grammar to students from their own papers. Additionally, I also guide them to resources such as learning labs which will facilitate their progress so they can learn, rather than repeatedly making the same mistakes. While it is unrealistic for some to see drastic improvement during the five week course, they certainly can make minor adjustments.
I am grateful to the copy/paste function which allows me to say the same core thing over and over again, with some added modifications. But if one wants to do a good job, especially as a writing instructor grading essays, I know of no other way than to READ the essays!!--and that certainly does take time.
I would agree that your method is most appropriate, I will try this method in the future.
Tasha,
I am in the same situation and the grading can be brutal. This is definitely the most time consuming part of my teaching experience. I think your approach is 1/3 each day is probably the best approach and I will be giving this a try.
I share the same problems many of you face because I teach in an online environment and virtually all of the assignments require a fair amount of writing. I take 2 passes on each assignment. For the first, I check for key concepts and content and on the second I check for grammar errors. My rubric also has a set number of points for spelling and grammar. While far from perfect, this has made things easier for me.
Jennifer,
I am in the same situation with papers, projects and DB's. It can be quite tedious.
Adrienne
I understand what you mean about grading online assignments they are already time consuming, but even more time consuming when the project or assignment is poorly written including grammatical errors. The improper formats like not double spacing and small font sizes make it even to read the response.
I agree that it's important to always ask for what you want Stephanie. Often times, rules are created for reasons that become outdated or irrelevant. Exploring your options can often lead to betterment in your life and to your point, the lives of your students.
I'm wondering if you could ask the school if you could restructure the course? Sometimes a course comes up for review/revision and this might be useful. If you are having a hard time keeping up with everything, I'm wondering if the students aren't as well.
Joanna - I am in the same situation. The pure volume of students is what kills me. I haven't come up with a good system yet but hoping to gain some tips here.
Joanna,
I am currently experiencing the same thing. I must also add in the fact that the classes I am referring to have a significant amount of students in each course. The only thing that has helped me keep my sanity is to grade 1/3rd on each of the 3 days. Yes, it still takes a significant amount of time, but that's the only action that has even remotely helped for me! :)
