Sounds like a great system Antoinette. I like that they are providing you some structure but - at the same time - are allowing you to customize it to best meet your needs. That's really the ideal scenario.
The homework assignments at the school I teach are structured in a way that makes it easier for me to streamline my grading. Recently, they added grading rubrics for all the assignments. The rubrics are not perfect, so we are allowed to modify them to meet our grading needs. The final grading rubric is saved as a webpage and posted to student files so they can review it. To streamline my grading, I make multiples copies of the rubric and rename each file using the students last name.
Sounds like you have a great system in place Marianne. It's nice when administrations and groups of faculty members organize around common grading systems - particularly those that save time.
That is tough Susan. It seems like middle and high schools these days are focusing less on grammar and spelling than ever before. This can be a big challenge in grading.
Actually I don't have an issue other then when they turn in their reports. The reading of their reports and deciphering the grammar, punctuation and spelling is what bogs me down. All due at once and then of course they are always some late.
We use the rubric system for tests, exams, quizzes, attendance, participation, final exams, hands on competencies, and daily labs. Once the grade is assigned to the students paper, it save time and lets the student see exactly where they stand as far as their points are concerned.
Most of my homework has answer sheets so the grading is quick. I like a few essay or fill in the blank just to mix it up and to make it a better assinment/test.
Yes, based on what I have learned in this module, I will format my exams and homework assignment differently in the future. I will strive for 50% on line feedback.
I grade my papers and test twice to make sure the student gets full credit for there work
Thanks for sharing Hayat. Some instructors have to use essay questions due to the nature of their course material. That's ok. I like your approach to grading. Sounds like you save a lot of time that way.
I teach writing, so I only assign essays and paragaphs since that is the only way to assess the students' mastery of the material covered.
As for homework, I go over the assignment in class and the students correct themselves.
I found the websites given in module 2 quite useful. I was not aware of the easytestmaker.com. It seems as though this will be a very useful tool in saving time. I can easily make a test in a pre-made format, which is a wonderful time saver.
Sounds like you are taking the right approach based on what you hope your students to learn Marcia. If computer skills are most important to understand, you've got to test on the computer. Yes, love the idea of graphs and charts to reduce the amount of data. Nice!
I do not give paper and pencil tests since I teach computer application classes. The best tests are those that use authentic assessment measures where students show they know the material by using the Office applications in a meaningful way. These kind of tests can also be streamlined with use of charts and graphs to streamline data and database queries to reduce the amount of data. It's a little more difficult to assess Word skills since you have to look for formatting, yet, students can still highlight their formatting changes, etc.
That's frustrating about the cheating Diane but something really important to keep in mind. If students cannot be honest in grading papers, we can't delegate this task to them.
I teach mathematics, so formal exams are usually the standard. Their grade is not only determined by the correct answer, but also their work. This is standard and effective.
I have tried to have students grade each others papers in the past. But I found there some who cheated so I stopped doing this. Our place of employment does not want grading done at school. I do like the idea of the answer to the side of the paper. This makes it much easier than essay questions.
Diane
Unfortunatly, the assignments are created by the University and not by individual instructors. Which is a positive for the student --- as students move onto the next unit of work they will all have a similar baseline of knowledge. However, I have created some "wording" that I use from assignment to assignment when appropriate and I don't have to recreate every single comment to the student. I can still personalize however, it's easy to cut and paste some frequently used verbage.
Excellent plan Joel! Yes, the highlighting and underlining method works great. Go ahead and give it a try. It will save you so much time.
I plan on using the highlighting or underlining method for short answer essays. I already use software to assist in the creation of exams but will schedule online exams
The gradebook software is another topic i will explore and utilize
