MARKING ASSIGNMENTS EFFICIENTLY

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MARKING ASSIGNMENTS EFFICIENTLY

• George MacDonald Ross
• Director, PRS Subject Centre
• AAPT, August 2006

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Programme

• Presentation on the issues
• Small-group discussions of assessment techniques
  and institutional differences
• Feedback to plenary, and further discussion

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Giving feedback

• Many ways of giving feedback
• Orally
• Written
• Individually or to groups
• Self- and peer-assessment
• Here I focus on written feedback to individuals
  (marking assignments)

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Efficient Marking

• Marking is efficient if
• Assignments are returned quickly (ideally within
  a week)
• All comments help students write better
  assignments next time

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Obstacles to timely return

• Institutional
• Technical
• Psychological

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Institutional obstacles

• Excessive marking loads
• Bureaucratic procedures
• (Here there may be major differences between
  different types of institution and national
  academic cultures)

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Technical obstacles (1)

• Paperwork!
• Electronic submission
• Use MS-Word comment facility to make legible
  marginal comments
• Speed the process with AutoCorrect or AutoText
• Add template for general comments
• Use Turnitin to check for plagiarism

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Technical obstacles (2)

• Keep your diary free when assignments are to be
  marked
• Stagger deadlines use Turnitin to deter
  collusion
• Ensure that students understand that they are
  assessed on their own independent thinking

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Psychological obstacles (1)

• Replace shame at marking slowly with pride at
  marking fast (keep students informed of progress
  on your website)
• Replace boredom with enthusiasm by ensuring that
  students write interesting assignments that are
  as different as possible from each other (e.g.
  imaginatively written dialogues)

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Psychological obstacles (2)

• Perceive assessment of students work as a
  positive vindication of your teaching methods,
  but with clues as to how you can teach even
  better next time.
• Treat each individual student as a junior
  colleague seeking advice on a draft paper

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Conclusion on timely feedback

• The most important aspect of the student learning
  experience is receiving good and timely feedback
  on coursework
• The most satisfying aspect of the teacher
  experience is providing good and timely feedback.

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Good feedback

• Feedback has to be good as well as timely
• Good and efficient feedback means that all
  comments help students write a better assignment
  next time

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Do

• Focus on improving philosophical skills rather
  than correcting errors
• Give reasons for comments, referring to explicit
  criteria
• Praise what is good as well as criticising what
  is bad
• Be clear and unthreatening

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Dont

• Give a grade as well as comments
• Make more comments than students can absorb
• Make comments students cant act on
• Be insulting or patronising
• Be overly negative

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The objective of grading

• The objective should be for students to
  internalise assessment criteria. Then
• They can assess their own work while writing
  (thus doing better)
• Assess the work of fellow-students (less feedback
  needed from the teacher)

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Small-group discussions

• Is the situation different in different academic
  cultures?
• Are there other techniques for ensuring that
  feedback is prompt and helpful?

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Thank you for participating

• George MacDonald Ross
• Department of Philosophy, University of
  Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
• g.m.ross_at_leeds.ac.uk
• http//prs.heacademy.ac.uk