"Warm" vs "Harsh" phrasing in student instructions and interactions.

[artalot]

I think anonymous grading is more a self-imposed norm. That is, I've never seen it required at any uni, but it is something that many professors are moving toward. I grade anonymously on all quizzes and exams and on short essays and assignments. There is a large body of research that demonstrates that even well-meaning profs who are aware of the problems can be affected by unconscious bias. All my students know I grade anonymously and why I do it.

Longer research projects are usually scaffolded and I believe there is a benefit to my knowing students names - I can see progress or lack thereof between assignments and even between courses and give more specific feedback. Plus their paper topics are so individualized that I would usually know who they are anyway.

Kay, et al. I do think there's a difference between noting an issue - most of the answers on this quiz are incorrect or incomplete - and attributing that issue to a specific behavior - most of the answers are incorrect because you were on your phone. For all you know they have diabetes and monitor their blood sugar on their phone.

[downer]

I wonder if there are any estimates of how frequent anonymous grading is done. While I've taken workshops in implicit bias, it was never mentioned. It's never been mentioned to me by anyone official.

I occasionally do it, but I often find that most students put their names on their papers anyway. I guess I could enforce a requirement to keep names off, but it's not a priority.

[OneMoreYear]

Does anyone have a citation for a good study evaluating the impact of blinded grading in college courses?

[jerseyjay]

In terms of "blind grading": I have never actually been told to do this. I have never seen it as an official policy. In fact, there are no official policies at most places I have worked, except the particular grades themselves and the expectation to be fair and consistent.

In the last twenty years (which happens to be the time I've been teaching), I have seen a move towards trying to be more objective in assigning grades. For example, the use of rubrics, which allow one to compute the final grade by its components instead of just assigning a grade.

Not looking at the students' names seems to be similar. For me, I find myself being biased based on my knowledge of a student. Usually it is bias in terms of grading more leniently, but it could go the other way. For example, if I know that a student is nice, participates in class, and asks good questions, I may be more willing to give the benefit of the doubt to him or her. Or, alternatively, if a student often comes in late or looks at his phone, I may be more likely to grade harsher. Gender/age/race/ethnicity/etc could also play a role. If I do not look at the names when I am grading, it is much easier to try to be more objective.

Of course, objectivity is relative. At the end of the day, a grade is usually not an objective standard but a subjective process. Of course, if the exam is objective, it probably doesn't matter. In the past I also used multiple-choice or true-false exams, in addition to essay exams, to try to make the grade more objective. (I do not use multiple-choice exams any more for various reasons; there is a general disdain for them; my department stopped buying scantron forms; and I had a job for several years editing multiple-choice questions, which makes me less enamored with their objectivity.) 

Again, when I am grading an essay or exam, I try to grade on objective criteria. Does it have a thesis? Does it use evidence? Is it the correct format? I assume that students who pay attention in class, come to class, etc., do better. But I do not grade on these criteria. To use the medical analogy: my dentist fills in cavities. He does not do work based on whether I eat sweets or brush my teeth. Yes, there is a general correlation, but I know people who brush and floss religiously and have many cavities, and some who never floss and eat candy and never have cavities. It would be malpractice for my dentist to give me a root canal just because he thinks I should eat less candy if I don't actually have a cavity. It would be wrong for me to give a lower grade on an essay to a student who doesn't show up to class on time if her work is otherwise good. (Of course, I can make attendance part of the overall grade, but that is different.)

I suppose I have a philosophical difference with Kaysixteen: My job is to help students learn, to present the material in a way that makes sense (and is correct), and to work with students if they have questions or concerns. My job is not to make sure each student learns. If a student does not want to learn, or is unable to put the effort into the work, that is not my fault.

[kaysixteen]

Let me meander some thinkin' here....

1) No diabetic needs to check his phone for blood sugar updates constantly during a 50 minute class.   Really, they do not, and the tendency around here, amongst some but not all posters, to excuse phone use and reject the notion that profs are responsible to prevent it is somewhat mindboggling.

2) If I give a student a decent passing course grade, and esp an A, that really is saying that I can vouch for his having learned the material of the class.   I am responsible to see that he does, and that responsibility is towards 1) my colleagues who might be teaching him in follow-up classes 2) the profession if he is going to go into it, 3) society, which does not want and should not get college professors handing out illegitimate grades (any more than 3rd grade teachers), and, most importantly, 4) the student himself, even if he does not know it yet, or actively resists this idea

[Hegemony]

I don't think anyone is advocating giving A's to students who did not earn the grade, phones or no phones.

[downer]

Students who can get A grades are not the issue for any of this. We are talking about students who don't do very well and are close to failing or underperforming. How much is it our job to help them out?

I suspect that unengaged students who spent a lot of time on phones won't get much sympathy from most faculty. If they get 1% under the passing grade, I probably will not give them the benefit of the doubt.

I guess there are some faculty who manage to engage whole classes. They bring energy and charisma into the room and make learning a fun and rewarding experience. At least, some people say they do that. I have never seen it with my own eyes.

[Golazo]

I have coordinated a double blind grading exercise where all capstones were graded by two faculty (and in the case of divergence, a 3rd). I actually think this really let to increased standards for the capstone, given that there was pretty good consistency on high standards for grading.

[mythbuster]

With regard to anonymous grading, it was a standard practice in my alma mater private high school back in the early 90's. Exams all had a cover page which is where you wrote your name, and essays you wrote your name on the back. These are standard practices that I use to this day. With exams, I grade each page of the exam and then shuffle the pile before progressing on to the next page. It may not be perfect in terms of eliminating bias, but it does seem to quiet down students who claim that I "just don't like them" in terms of the grade they receive. And yes, Canvas now has a button to allow for anonymous grading with the online Speed Grader function.

In terms of the quality of comments, I don't ever comment on student behavior in writing on an assignment. I keep the written comments focused on the assignment itself.

[Dismal]

This is an old thread but I wanted to add that I still have the draft of my dissertation proposal where my advisor wrote three words on the title page: "This is better!"

It gave me a boost at an important time. So I do think warm words can make a difference.

[Caracal]

This is an old thread but I wanted to add that I still have the draft of my dissertation proposal where my advisor wrote three words on the title page: "This is better!"

It gave me a boost at an important time. So I do think warm words can make a difference.

Ha, I got some very similar feedback on a draft of a dissertation chapter. My advisor is a very nice guy, but he was just writing comments and expecting me to address them in the final full dissertation draft, I knew that when he asked for me to send him another draft of that chapter, that meant he thought it was a real mess. "This is much better" both was a compliment and a confirmation that he thought the previous draft really sucked.

[fizzycist]

I didn't actually say I was going to tell the kid 'this paper is crap'... what I am going to do is tell him what is wrong with it, without lying to him and calling crap gold.   And if the reason that it is crap appears to be that he has been goofing off, being disruptive or inattentive in class, obviously not doing the reading, etc., well then my comments *ought* to reflect that as well.   I do him no favors by sugarcoating things and allowing him to believe that he can continue such performance without real consequences.

Not that anyone asked me :), but I would suggest that you treat the bad essay and the goofing off in class as separate issues. The student is going to be less likely to properly process suggestions about class behavior when they are working through the disappointment on the paper. And in fact the two might not be linked in the way you think.