Grading
Grading multiple choice test seems easy enough, yet when I am doing this, quickly so I can review with the students. There can be errors. I dont believe I am alone here.
I have tried templates as a solution, but would appreciate any suggestions.
You are certainly not alone in this. In my several months of teaching, I have encountered students that show exams that I have graded with an error. While multiple choice/ true and false exams are quick to assess, teachers are still subject to error. I am grateful to find that students are understanding in these matters. Since these happenings, I try to remain more cognizant while I am grading. I have found that double-checking has been effective in this as well.
Stephen, Sounds like you've got a wonderfully efficient system in place. Great to hear! When grading is streamlined, we can turn our attention to other, more important things. I have a feeling you've experienced these benefits.
Dr. Melissa Read
I use templets all the time for our multiple choice quizes and finals. The largest stress factor I have is lining up the master with each students answer sheet. I can usually grade the test on the spot and help the student understand any answers he/she may have missed. Works for me.
Christine, Absolutely. Electronic test making and grading can be a huge time saver. Many programs also notify students of their grades and give them feedback on the questions they got wrong. It's a great help for students and instructors alike.
Dr. Melissa Read
I am definately going to check out the electronic grade book site. I am constantly grading papers and developing new gradebooks. Maybe you should give it a try?
I agree lab grading is very time consuming, the students do benefit if I can critically grade. An alternative I use is to spot grade, a different aspect of the assignment each week to keep the students honest.
I am all for stream lining grading but I do not believe in trading papers. It is against policy in many places because of privacy. Other students should not know what others students receive as grades. Also I have found students have many questions in grading others papers. Sometimes I find its easier to do it myself.
Bill, Sounds like a big challenge. Lab grading can be so time intensive. There are a couple of options. One that I really like is to ask students to grade each others' papers. When they can do this anonymously, it's a great learning experience and it saves a lot of time. A second option is to do random checks of only a selected portion of lab questions and check the remaining questions for completeness.
Dr. Melissa Read
Falisia, Excellent to hear that you've streamlined your approach to grading. Yes, scantrons can make a world of difference. We can use the time we save to focus on helping students in other ways.
Dr. Melissa Read
I use to grade hand grade all of my test,which became way too time consuming. I found using the scantron system is the best option for me it saves me a significant amount of time; especially, when students are so eager to receive their test scores back.
Our institution has ERB and all tests are manually Graded but on Scan type forms so this is not a problem, However our Lab Grading is Not standardized. Each lab must be read and then the instructor interpretes the information and in his own opinion assigns a grade. Some instructor find this too time consuming and don't read them and just assign the grade. Lab Grading, depending on the course can be overwhelming, time management skilld have got to be good otherwise the "pencil Whip" Takes over. Use of other than school material is not allowed which makes following some of these lessons very difficult. I truely have no answer to this and it is a problem!
I have had good success with testing software for MC tests. As this is the primary testing mode for certification tests, of which I do a lot, having students do electronic testing with things like ExamView, which can provide LAN based testing, really allows our classes the flexibility to use the tests for learning, rather than waiting on me to grade when the material is at risk of brain-dump.
There are too many cool solutions out there that really are easy to be bowled over with paper MC tests and grading templates - but that's just my 2¢. /rab
Arvice, Yes, it's really nice for our students to get immediate feedback. Grading with a template can help with that. Automating grading with technology can provide feedback even more instantly, and often reduces the amount of work we have to do grading once we get things setup.
Dr. Melissa Read
I like to give my students their test back as soon as I possibly can. Grading with a template is a great invention. It helps a great deal.
I've used templets to grade quizzes and finals for years with out a real amount of stress.
I do make them with a key for grade percentage to help me give the correct grade every time. great stress reducer for me in that area.
Bruce, It's important to make sure we are accurate in grading. For multiple choice examples, automated grading techniques like scantrons can work quite well. You might give that a try.
Dr. Melissa Read
