The grading thread

[Parasaurolophus]

Two of my classes have a paper due today, so I'll see you in grading jail. Maybe we can pass notes or something.

(I did manage to mark five today, so that's a start.)

[AvidReader]

I finished a stack of 40 today. I didn't grade them all today--I was trying a new multi-pass approach to see if I could make the newly required inline comments more efficient, so I went through the stack 3 times over 3 days. But the 40 are finished. I believe that leaves me with only about 320 essays left to grade between now and mid-May (minus a few from students who give up in the meantime). Right now I only have 50 sitting in my figurative pile, though, so I don't feel as behind as I might.

AR.

[Parasaurolophus]

320! Pffft!   ;)

(I have 80, of which about 60 are left. The rest is all just finals that mostly mark themselves.)


I suppose I should do 5-6 today. Ugh.

[dr_codex]

Last exam today. Grades due Monday at noon.

I'll make it, but it won't be fun.

[teach_write_research]

Last exam today. Grades due Monday at noon.

I'll make it, but it won't be fun.

Ugh, that's a rough timeline.

My reward for today's procrasti-grading was a plagiarism case to report. At last Dear Student chose relevant text to copy and had to at least glance at some pretty high level scholarly content.

[marshwiggle]

Last exam today. Grades due Monday at noon.

I'll make it, but it won't be fun.

Ugh, that's a rough timeline.

My reward for today's procrasti-grading was a plagiarism case to report. At last Dear Student chose relevant text to copy and had to at least glance at some pretty high level scholarly content.

Maybe instead of prosecuting plagiarism, we can give "research points" according to how well chosen the content was to answer the question! Then students who plagiarise badly (which is probably most?) can fail on "poor research" without all of the pesky disciplinary process hassle.

I've got to think about this.......

[the_geneticist]

Last exam today. Grades due Monday at noon.

I'll make it, but it won't be fun.

Ugh, that's a rough timeline.

My reward for today's procrasti-grading was a plagiarism case to report. At last Dear Student chose relevant text to copy and had to at least glance at some pretty high level scholarly content.

Maybe instead of prosecuting plagiarism, we can give "research points" according to how well chosen the content was to answer the question! Then students who plagiarise badly (which is probably most?) can fail on "poor research" without all of the pesky disciplinary process hassle.

I've got to think about this.......

I'd err of the side of still reporting them.  Chances are they have tried this in other classes or will try this again if there aren't serious consequences.

[dr_codex]

Last exam today. Grades due Monday at noon.

I'll make it, but it won't be fun.

Ugh, that's a rough timeline.

My reward for today's procrasti-grading was a plagiarism case to report. At last Dear Student chose relevant text to copy and had to at least glance at some pretty high level scholarly content.

Maybe instead of prosecuting plagiarism, we can give "research points" according to how well chosen the content was to answer the question! Then students who plagiarise badly (which is probably most?) can fail on "poor research" without all of the pesky disciplinary process hassle.

I've got to think about this.......

I'd err of the side of still reporting them.  Chances are they have tried this in other classes or will try this again if there aren't serious consequences.

It's not ideal. Luckily the bulk of my grading came in earlier in the week. But I don't love the turn-around.

My own plagiarist (so far?) is both clumsy and ripping off Wikipedia. No points, and you can be sure it's going to be sent up the chain.

I have been doing some mulling about the Turnitin reports for my classes. They show some interesting patterns. I don't mean that in any sinister way; it just has me reflecting upon how some kinds of assignments and prompts encourage either rote responses or creative mixing of information.

[doc700]

Grading question.  I gave a midterm exam that had 3 problems.  It was a closed book, closed note exam administered over Canvas (and "proctored" on Zoom).  One student uploaded the same problem twice but didn't upload one of the problems.  This could be an honest mistake in a remote class.

TA who was grading reached out, no response.  I reached out, telling the student we needed to have the problem by X time when solutions would be released/grades posted.  No response.  Solutions were posted, 4 days after exam given and ~40 hours after TA first made contact and 24 hours after I did.  6 hours later the student sent the TA the correct problem.  Notably the problem the student submitted was nearly correct but not completely and was solved slightly differently than the posted solutions (some correct steps done in a different order which was also correct).  I do thus know the student didn't just copy the posted solutions line by line and this could very well have been the work he did during the timed exam.

What do I do with this problem?  I know in retrospect I should have been more clear it was a 0 if we didn't receive it by X time.  Do we just grade it as normal and move on?  The student did reasonably well on the remainder of the exam but since there were 3 problems giving him a 0 on this one would mean a D on the exam v. A-/B+ if we count this problem.  Seems harsh to give a 0 but also unfair to allow full credit when the solutions had been posted.

[fishbrains]

Grading question.  I gave a midterm exam that had 3 problems.  It was a closed book, closed note exam administered over Canvas (and "proctored" on Zoom).  One student uploaded the same problem twice but didn't upload one of the problems.  This could be an honest mistake in a remote class.

TA who was grading reached out, no response.  I reached out, telling the student we needed to have the problem by X time when solutions would be released/grades posted.  No response.  Solutions were posted, 4 days after exam given and ~40 hours after TA first made contact and 24 hours after I did.  6 hours later the student sent the TA the correct problem.  Notably the problem the student submitted was nearly correct but not completely and was solved slightly differently than the posted solutions (some correct steps done in a different order which was also correct).  I do thus know the student didn't just copy the posted solutions line by line and this could very well have been the work he did during the timed exam.

What do I do with this problem?  I know in retrospect I should have been more clear it was a 0 if we didn't receive it by X time.  Do we just grade it as normal and move on?  The student did reasonably well on the remainder of the exam but since there were 3 problems giving him a 0 on this one would mean a D on the exam v. A-/B+ if we count this problem.  Seems harsh to give a 0 but also unfair to allow full credit when the solutions had been posted.

Does your syllabus have a clause concerning how often students are expected to check their email? For example, my syllabus says students should check their email every day at least once by 8:00 PM until they receive their final grade for the course. If this isn't spelled out in some detail, I would just grade the problem and move on with my life. Life's too short there. 

[doc700]

Grading question.  I gave a midterm exam that had 3 problems.  It was a closed book, closed note exam administered over Canvas (and "proctored" on Zoom).  One student uploaded the same problem twice but didn't upload one of the problems.  This could be an honest mistake in a remote class.

TA who was grading reached out, no response.  I reached out, telling the student we needed to have the problem by X time when solutions would be released/grades posted.  No response.  Solutions were posted, 4 days after exam given and ~40 hours after TA first made contact and 24 hours after I did.  6 hours later the student sent the TA the correct problem.  Notably the problem the student submitted was nearly correct but not completely and was solved slightly differently than the posted solutions (some correct steps done in a different order which was also correct).  I do thus know the student didn't just copy the posted solutions line by line and this could very well have been the work he did during the timed exam.

What do I do with this problem?  I know in retrospect I should have been more clear it was a 0 if we didn't receive it by X time.  Do we just grade it as normal and move on?  The student did reasonably well on the remainder of the exam but since there were 3 problems giving him a 0 on this one would mean a D on the exam v. A-/B+ if we count this problem.  Seems harsh to give a 0 but also unfair to allow full credit when the solutions had been posted.

Does your syllabus have a clause concerning how often students are expected to check their email? For example, my syllabus says students should check their email every day at least once by 8:00 PM until they receive their final grade for the course. If this isn't spelled out in some detail, I would just grade the problem and move on with my life. Life's too short there.

No policy on checking email.  I do say they need to have Canvas notifications turned on for urgent messaging however no explicit requirement about checking email every day. 

Student has been turning in all the work for the course and did well on the first midterm. I'll just grade the problem and move on.  Giving the student a 0 for the problem/a D on the exam would whack his overall course grade; grading the problem as is would be consistent with the grade he was otherwise earning in the course.

[Anon1787]

What happened to using paragraphs? I have a pile of admittedly short essays (500 words), but about 1/3rd of them are only one paragraph despite making several distinct points.

[OneMoreYear]

Ufda. I'm grading an assignment for a class that I had a section in the Fall and now a section this Spring.  In the Fall, only one student failed the assignment.  Now, I'm looking at an assignment failure rate of 60%. We did an example in class. The lectures are recorded. No one asked any questions about the assignment before it was due. What gives?

[downer]

What happened to using paragraphs? I have a pile of admittedly short essays (500 words), but about 1/3rd of them are only one paragraph despite making several distinct points.

Put good paragraph use on the grading rubric!

[Sun_Worshiper]

What happened to using paragraphs? I have a pile of admittedly short essays (500 words), but about 1/3rd of them are only one paragraph despite making several distinct points.

I get this too. I'll never understand how students get to be seniors in college (even grad students) without knowing how paragraphs work. It really is a sad commentary on our education system.