Get Your Students Hired
My courses are art studio courses primarily, so there is little to be gained for me in this section. That said, I have taught art and design history in the past, and the methods described proved valuable.
I like to have at least a couple essay questions on my exams. One time-saving tip I found helpful, was having the students underline the key concept in their answers.
One thing I do (because we cannot sort discussions in our grade book) is to note responses on a spreadsheet. This gives me a chance to review all responses and then enter the grade. While this takes a few more minutes, in the long run I think it saves more time than clicking on one student, searching all of their responses, clicking back to the grade book, entering the grade and then starting all over for the next student.
In grading, our department has a template we use for feedback. This allows me to have the shell of what I need (the rubric) and then the space for individualized feedback. This saves times.
Erica
Richard, It sounds like you've given this topic a lot of thought. Yes, to your point, rubrics really can streamline grading in most situations. They have a few other benefits too. They can be used to delegate grading out to a few people. This can certainly take tasks off your plate. Also, they make grading a lot less subjective and more fair.
Dr. Melissa Read
Tricia, Wow, that kind of turn around time sounds tremendous for your students. It's wonderful to provide nearly instant feedback. Sounds like you've got an organized system in place for managing the grading process.
Dr. Melissa Read
When streamlining the grading process I really try to access the learning objectives. Based on the materials available, are the objectives best demonstrated through exam, essay, short answer or practical application of the knowledge. It is sometimes difficult to assess what is the best measure initially and through repetition of the course I have been able to find better assessment tools depending on the course objectives. I do utilize online exams for multiple guess. This is something I promote and taught other instructors how to utilize for convenience. I haven't had much luck getting the in-house CMS to work with short answer or essay. The practical application is the most time consuming because in my area of study it can't be completely automated. Each project is unique and requires time to assess. The closest to automation is by creating objective grading rubrics to identify all the key points that are important and are valued in a professional environment.
My exams are primarily scantron format so grading them is quick and easy. However, some of the tests have fill-ins or matching. I try to use one word fill ins to make it quicker to grade.
I utlize all different assessment methods to ensure I'm adapting to all learning styles. My "essay" questions are graded for key words so it takes less time.
I already have the students write their multiple choice answer out to the side for easier grading. I don't give many essay questions but when I do, I like the idea of having the students underline their key points.
-Sherri Forna
We use multiple choice, true/false and fill in the blank type questions which in turn allows our department to use Scan tron Tests. They are so efficient and enable us to post grades readily so that our students can view their grades usually within 24 hours. It saves a great deal of time and satisfies the students need for gratification.
The school where I work; we have specific course "captains" if you will; who oversee certain courses - making sure we are all on the same page - this helps with the streamlining - we share tests, lecture material etc. This ensures that our students are being taught the same material despite who the instructor is.
We are also trying to attain our CAAHEP certification so our testing styles have had to change accordingly; to now include essays. I think that highlighting the key points will make grading these much easier and will share this with my colleagues.
At least 50% of the content in any given course that I teach involves math. I am reluctant to present math problems using a multiple choice format because I like reviewing the calculations to better guide the student if they are getting the wrong answers. Any suggestions?
I don't believe I will be changing how I handle my grading and homework assignments and this is why:
I give quizzes twice a week for my students. They are often a mix of multiple choice and fill in the blank and are not large quizzes (25 questions or so). This allows them to keep the material fresh and study more often. It often doesn't take me long to grade them, because I write my own quizzes and already know the answers.
I assign homework based on the class requirements, so the homework may require additional time to grade (such as transcription) or less time to just make sure they understand the basics of the material (such as workbooks). By changing the requirements for each class, it makes the homework assignments best fit the class I am teaching.
I also often give a final exam. If I have a large class, then I will give one that I can grade easily on a scan-tron. However, I feel it is important for students to not just be able to answer multiple-choice questions but to also actually retrieve the material and write it out. That is why I often give fill in the blanks or short answers - I don't want them to get use to just easy questions.
It may make more work for me, but I feel the students can benefit from multiple quizzes and a final exam. It requires them to study more often, allows them the chance to mess up on one quiz without seriously affecting their grade, and requires them to review all the material once more before they finish with the class.
I like the idea of underlining the important information. It then becomes easy to see what information the student has retained. Just another thought, but I'll also require homework to be typed. I use up a lot of time trying to read sloppy handwriting!
Some books we use come with a program called exam view. It can create tests directly from the book you are using. It comes with quiz banks so you can just pick questions you like, or create your own. It also creates a answer sheet for you as well.
Robert, Excellent to hear. Yes, having students grade their papers can be great. I recommend assigning each student a unique code number to use to identify themselves instead of their name. This approach helps you maintain confidentiality while benefiting from peer grading.
Dr. Melissa Read
Daniel, That's a wonderful approach to keep grading efficient. Thank you for sharing. Yes, often our exams span multiple pages. Flipping through each page to find the answer can be time consuming. Having students write answers on a single sheet cuts down on the sorting through everything and gets you to the evaluation piece much faster.
Dr. Melissa Read
Currently I use standardized questions to my exams and quizzes. This makes grading much easier and it affords the opportunity to evaluate the students on an even playing field. Most of the questions are designed as multiple choice but do offer a challenge without overwhelming students with test fright. This portion of the module reinforces the format I currently use.
Right now I use a lot of multiple choice and true and false exams. They are much quicker to grade and applicable to most of the curriculum. As for homework, so of the ideas on highlighting and students exchanging papers may come in handy.