The grading thread

[ergative]

Oh, FFS, I gave individual feedback to all the students' exam responses! Surely that obviates the need to write up a generic exam answer key to distribute? But nooooo, we must ensure that all students have the same feedback experience in all classes. I really freaking hate this policy so, so much.

[OneMoreYear]

Oh, FFS, I gave individual feedback to all the students' exam responses! Surely that obviates the need to write up a generic exam answer key to distribute? But nooooo, we must ensure that all students have the same feedback experience in all classes. I really freaking hate this policy so, so much.

Obviously the solution to this inane requirement is to stop giving individualized feedback, because if you individualize it, students are not getting the same experience, right? So just mark answers right or wrong and post the generic answer key. Is that what TIIC intend?

[ergative]

Oh, FFS, I gave individual feedback to all the students' exam responses! Surely that obviates the need to write up a generic exam answer key to distribute? But nooooo, we must ensure that all students have the same feedback experience in all classes. I really freaking hate this policy so, so much.

Obviously the solution to this inane requirement is to stop giving individualized feedback, because if you individualize it, students are not getting the same experience, right? So just mark answers right or wrong and post the generic answer key. Is that what TIIC intend?

Yes, it's what was intended, but I had to make notes to myself when deciding how to grade everything, so it was easy enough to adjust them into feedback for students. So, instead of the easy adjustment to something I'm already doing while grading, I have to write up the generic answer key, which is much more tedious and accomplishes the identical purpose.

[Biologist_]

Oh, FFS, I gave individual feedback to all the students' exam responses! Surely that obviates the need to write up a generic exam answer key to distribute? But nooooo, we must ensure that all students have the same feedback experience in all classes. I really freaking hate this policy so, so much.

Wait a minute. There's a policy that instructors must distribute an answer key? How does that work?

Many of the faculty in my department don't return exams to students at all so they can reuse them. They will allow students to come to office hours to look at exams but that's it. Is that allowed at your place?

In most of my classes, I do give exams back to students with written comments, but I haven't given them an answer key for years. For multiple choice questions, I often give an optional assignment to correct wrong answers for partial credit. Students are welcome and encouraged to talk to each other to confirm their answers but I want them to talk about the answers and write explanations, not just get the answers from me. For questions with written answers, I don't want to hand them the answers. I want them to think about what is missing or incorrect and how they could write a better answer.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

I have to grade:

1 set of lab midterms
1 set of lab reports
1 set of homework
1 set of tests

I think I can get it all done by Friday???

[OneMoreYear]

Oh, FFS, I gave individual feedback to all the students' exam responses! Surely that obviates the need to write up a generic exam answer key to distribute? But nooooo, we must ensure that all students have the same feedback experience in all classes. I really freaking hate this policy so, so much.

Obviously the solution to this inane requirement is to stop giving individualized feedback, because if you individualize it, students are not getting the same experience, right? So just mark answers right or wrong and post the generic answer key. Is that what TIIC intend?

Yes, it's what was intended, but I had to make notes to myself when deciding how to grade everything, so it was easy enough to adjust them into feedback for students. So, instead of the easy adjustment to something I'm already doing while grading, I have to write up the generic answer key, which is much more tedious and accomplishes the identical purpose.

To be clear, I think it's stupid what they are making you do. I also wonder why they think it's better for students to sift though a generic answer key to figure out their mistakes rather than to review individualized feedback.  Did something happen that led to this standardization policy?

[ergative]

Oh, FFS, I gave individual feedback to all the students' exam responses! Surely that obviates the need to write up a generic exam answer key to distribute? But nooooo, we must ensure that all students have the same feedback experience in all classes. I really freaking hate this policy so, so much.

Obviously the solution to this inane requirement is to stop giving individualized feedback, because if you individualize it, students are not getting the same experience, right? So just mark answers right or wrong and post the generic answer key. Is that what TIIC intend?

Yes, it's what was intended, but I had to make notes to myself when deciding how to grade everything, so it was easy enough to adjust them into feedback for students. So, instead of the easy adjustment to something I'm already doing while grading, I have to write up the generic answer key, which is much more tedious and accomplishes the identical purpose.

To be clear, I think it's stupid what they are making you do. I also wonder why they think it's better for students to sift though a generic answer key to figure out their mistakes rather than to review individualized feedback.  Did something happen that led to this standardization policy?

The generic answer key was developed as a way to handle our several-hundred-student intro courses, where it was not feasible to provide personalized feedback. That's fine. The standardization is because everyone loves to make all the procedures across classes consistent in our department to ensure 'comparable student experience' across the classes. For the most part, that works quite well. We have sufficient buy-in across the department that there are genuine tangible benefits about things like extensions and missing assignments and grade disputes. There is very little student whining about these course policies because everyone holds to them so firmly.

it's just sometimes I have to write up stupid documents for an exam that only eight students completed. And so I come here and whine.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

I have to grade:

1 set of lab midterms
1 set of lab reports
1 set of homework
1 set of tests

I think I can get it all done by Friday???

Well, that didn't happen! I plan to work on the tests and midterms soon. I'll see how much I can do today.

[Parasaurolophus]

All students could have te same exam feedback experience by getting no feedback at all, which is entirely normal for exams.

I would balk pretty hard at distributing answer keys. They cheat enough as it is.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

I have to grade:

1 set of lab midterms
1 set of lab reports
1 set of homework
1 set of tests

I think I can get it all done by Friday???

Well, that didn't happen! I plan to work on the tests and midterms soon. I'll see how much I can do today.

And I'm done. I should have more labs and homework to grade this week.

[Anon1787]

All students could have te same exam feedback experience by getting no feedback at all, which is entirely normal for exams.

I would balk pretty hard at distributing answer keys. They cheat enough as it is.

Students here complain if they don't receive enough feedback on their exams (in classes above 100-level). In addition to providing feedback, I create a discussion board detailing some of the more common mistakes along with an invitation to ask questions (that few take advantage of), but some students still complain that I don't "go over" the entire exam during class.

[mamselle]

A friend used to handle that by saying that he would do comments for anyone who turned in an SASE with their exam.

That meant he only spent time writing comments for those who indicated in advance that they would take the effort seriously.

M. 

[FishProf]

I just submitted summer grades.

One student in the online asynchronous course did ZERO work after the Syllabus Quiz, until the very last day possible.  Then they took the final.  They almost passed.  Almost.

That big fat ZERO on the lecture quizzes turns out to be a poor strategy.

I guess I'll see them again in the fall.

That's about a $1k mistake.

[downer]

I had a student in a summer class who ended up with a grade 0.2% from passing. If I'd been feeling more generous, I would have given the student a D. But they had put little effort in, and didn't submit a couple of assignments, with no explanation. My grading had been generous anyway, and I didn't really think the student deserved to pass.

[marshwiggle]

I had a student in a summer class who ended up with a grade 0.2% from passing. If I'd been feeling more generous, I would have given the student a D. But they had put little effort in, and didn't submit a couple of assignments, with no explanation. My grading had been generous anyway, and I didn't really think the student deserved to pass.

Based on almost 4 decades of teaching labs and courses to thousands of students, NOT ONE has ever failed who handed everything in.

And as my son summarized about how to succeed at university, "Go to all your classes and hand everything in." If only somehow students could learn about these deep, dark secrets of academic success.