Mentee Info
Grading Efficiently
This newsletter contains information that will (hopefully) help you grade more efficiently.
Best Practice
A best practice for online instructors within GaVS is to integrate into the feedback direct references to the learning objectives, as well as offer further resources for a deeper examination of the content.
Grading
- The more you grade, the better and more efficient you will become. It sounds silly, but it'ts true.
- We also have a lot of tips in the TOP module.
Tips and Tricks
- Save your feedback SOMEWHERE. I use OneDrive, but you could use a word doc, excel spreadsheet, Evernote, OneNote, or something else entirely. You will need your feedback multiple times this semester and if you ever teach the course again. I also save any comments I make, because, chances are, I'll need that comment again. Here's my OneDrive page for the first lab in my course: Science Inquiry Lab
- Someone once told me to save all of your discussion replies (I keep them in the same OneNote page as the feedback for that discussion). They mentioned that Discussions are 10% of the grade, so they should take about 10% of your time. You do not have to create a new reply for every student, but every student should not get the same reply either. They are meant to mimic in-class discussions. Sometimes, when I was teaching in the face-to-face classroom, students would have similar answers to a problem and I'd reply with a similar answer. So save your responses. Then you won't have to recraft a new response each time. You will have a repository of well-written replies for common student answers to the discussion. Here's an example of the OneNote page for the first "real" discussion in my AP Env. Sci. class to give you an idea: Top 10 Environmental Problems
- USE RUBRICS. Rubrics make it easy for me to grade a ANYTHING because what is asked of them is already there and it also helps the students know what to expect in terms of grading. You can create new rubrics, modify existing rubrics in your course, or use rubrics already in your course just as they are. Check out this newsletter for instructions on how to add a rubric to your course: https://www.smore.com/9jymz
Discussion Tip
I had trouble keeping track when students go back and respond to their classmates in the discussions and when I need to go back and update their grades. I started asking them to reply in SpeedGrader once they've responded to their classmates.
I get a notification that they've replied and then once/day (if I've gotten a notification that day), I look at my submission comments in the Canvas Inbox and update each student's grade in a different window.
This image shows the Canvas inbox sorted to Submission Comments and my feedback asking the student to reply, his reply, and my Grade Updated feedback, so I can easily see that I've already "fixed" that grade.
SpeedGrader Tip
Attach videos to SpeedGrader. To do this, download the video you want to attach. I store mine in my OneDrive, then click the video icon in SpeedGrader and attach the video. This will allow students to see the video without having to download it or copy and paste the link into a new window.
Grading Tips and Best Practices
This presentation from ENGAGE Fall 2020 focused entirely on Grading and Tips for Grading in Canvas