Teaching Assistants Marking Handbook

Transcription

1 UNBC Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Technology Teaching Assistants Marking Handbook Editor Sarah Foot, 2008 Generated by participants and presenters during the Effective and Equitable Marking: Tips and Strategies for Teaching Assistants workshop at the 2008 Annual UNBC Teaching Conference. Presenters: Dr. Saphida Migabo, Travis Gerwing, and Sarah Foot August 27, :30am 10:00am Room

2 Table of Contents Key Marking Issues Identified by Participants Page 3 Marking Where to Begin General strategies A) Before Marking Page 4 B) During Marking Page 5 C) After Marking Page 5 Tips and Strategies: A) Speed and Consistency Page 7 B) Constructive Feedback Page 7 C) Academic Dishonesty/Plagiarism/Cheating Page 8 D) Assigning Participation Marks Page 9 E) Fairness/Objectivity/Equitability Page 10 F) Assisting Students with Disabilities Page 10 UNBC grading criteria Page 11 Resources Page 12 CTLT TA Marking Handbook Page 2

3 Key Marking Issues Identified by Participants Speed Consistency Fairness/Objectivity/Equitability Ways to detect and prevent plagiarism Ways to detect and prevent cheating Marking for etiquette Assigning participation marks Assigning group marks CTLT TA Marking Handbook Page 3

4 Marking Where to Begin General Strategies A) Before Marking Have a complete knowledge of the subject. Discuss professor s expectations in general for marking and specifically for the assignment o How many students will probably get an A, B, etc.? o What are correct/incorrect answers? o What do students need to achieve by doing the assignment? Evaluate the assignment to determine what you are marking. o Have a summary of criteria that you are looking for in the form of an answer key or rubric. o A rubric or answer key is based on lecture notes, textbook readings, and/or professors suggestions. o Are you going to use holistic or numeric or combined rubric? o Determine what each section is worth for marks. Plan ahead and manage your time to ensure each paper/assignment is given adequate and equal consideration Go through and review a few papers. o Do you need to revise your marking scheme? State the marking policies at the beginning of the course. o When is an assignment late (if not handed in at the beginning of class or by the end of the day)? o How long can students argue for marks (5-days afterwards or up until the final exam)? Questions to think about before marking: o Do you have a rubric or answer key? Ask your professor for one or create your own. o Where do you mark? At home? In office? Does the professor have a preference? o In a writing assignment: Will you accept point form or complete sentences? How tough will you be when marking for grammar? Will you penalize students for spelling mistakes? o What instrument are you going to mark with - pen, pencil, red, blue, black, or computer? Use a pencil when you start marking and make comments. Use a red pen for final grade after your marking is completely finished. o What type of comments are you going to write and where are you going to place them? CTLT TA Marking Handbook Page 4

5 B) During Marking Comments are general for the class s assignments or specific to the individual s assignment. General comments could be typed and addressed to the whole class. Specific comments could be put in the margins. Mark the same section or question of every student s assignments/essays/reports (i.e. mark everyone s introduction from their lab reports or everyone s question 1 from their assignments). o Always marking the entire assignment or section of the assignment for every student before taking a break. Mark partners or groups essays/assignments together. Take breaks and maintain balance - be careful about becoming numb. Ensure you have a large block of time for marking with no interruptions or distractions. At the halfway point or even sooner, stop and review your marking key to ensure consistency. o Meet with professor after you mark the first paper and then discuss the differences between your marking and his or her marking to ensure everyone has the same expectations. If possible, do not look at the name on the assignment when marking. o Allocate marks according to content and marking scheme not by personal feelings. When providing comments to students, give the students three priority items to improve for next paper/assignment. o Comment using the sandwich approach praise, attack, praise. o When you comment, do not just say good or excellence but actually describe why a particular section was good or excellence. o Phrase comments in terms of questions. i.e. What could you do in this instance...? C) After Marking Give a firm grade on the papers/assignments and immediately enter grades into an Excel spreadsheet (don t delay entering in grades). Manage conflict with students and/or professor. o Enforce a 24-hour cooling period before students can talk to you about the assignments/essays. o Be confident in your marking and your marking scheme try not to become defensive. o Require the student to be clear about why they deserve additional marks - ask students to put these comments in writing. CTLT TA Marking Handbook Page 5

6 o Always make copies of papers and/or comments from students or even keep a journal of student visits. o If your professor is agreeable, you may want to take in a student s entire assignment for re-marking if he or she has marking issues or concerns. Do not take students comments personally, even if they do not approach you but complain to the professor first. Encourage students to read your comments. If professor has a conflict with your marking, communicate with him or her exactly what they are having difficulties with and try to learn from it. CTLT TA Marking Handbook Page 6

7 Tips and Strategies: A) Speed and Consistency Read through the entire essay/assignment question before writing comments. Mark the entire section of an assignment/essay in one sitting. Ensure your making location is organized, including the marking rubric and assignment questions in sight. Give yourself sufficient time to mark and chose a location without interruptions. Total marks (i.e. add up marks) after marking every assignment. Be clear with students about format expectations, such as all assignments must be typed or cannot be written in certain ink colours. When you receive assignments, sort them by topic and then organize assignments with similar marks together. o For example, place an A paper in the A paper pile, B paper in the B paper pile. Create a database of comments to use for every assignment. Type general comments onto one document and present them to the class as a whole. Only write specific comments on individual assignments or essays. B) Constructive Feedback/Comments Use the sandwich approach. o Sugar coat negative comments. o Use words that are not mean, rude, etc. Avoid personal attacks by separating the person from the problem i.e. Do not write Your results are bad... but instead write The paper s results are bad... Use comments to start a conversation with students. o Ask them a question instead of telling them what is wrong i.e. How could you rewrite this sentence to make it clearer? versus This sentence is unclear. Providing students with more constructive feedback should let to better work in the future. Know the difficult areas of your course/subject, so that you can provide comments that will be most helpful to students and that will address those key issues. Write your comments legibly, clearly, and concisely. Specify what symbols mean, and explain your comments and be specific Bend your phrase so it s a stepping stone. Provide students with suggestions for improvement on future reports/essays/assignments. Relate your comments to real life situations or practical applications and expectations. CTLT TA Marking Handbook Page 7

8 Determine whether or not you should put smiley faces on good papers. If you come across a blank question while marking (i.e. the student did not answer the question): o Do not comment on the student s effort or time management i.e. Partied too hard last night? o Talk to the professor about blank spaces o One method is to not give any comments, but simply strike through the blank space so they can not fill it in later. o Do not make assumptions: Missing questions may indicate a lack of understanding and you can address this in your general comments. The question may have been badly worded if several students missed it. o Provide the student with information about resources. Consider different expectations for students and always find at least one good comment to write about an assignment/essay/report. Tell them where they can access more resources If possible, ask students to hand in a draft of the essay/assignment so you can provide them with before they hand in the final copy. If possible, ask students to complete an example assignment that you mark but do not include in their final course grade. If a student repeatedly makes a mistake, you may suggest that she or he goes to the Learning Skills Center. Decide what portion of the marks will be assigned to specific subjects, such as spelling, grammar, etc. o Do not take marks off for the same mistake more than once. I.e. Do not take off a mark in the paper because a word was spelled incorrectly and then also take off a mark in the spelling section of your rubric. C) Academic Dishonesty/Plagiarism/Cheating Ways to prevent and/or detect plagiarism: o Mark the entire question in one sitting i.e. every student s question 1. o Google questionable sentences. o Note sections of an essay that are written at a level above the rest of the paper s content. o Note sections where the content is identical but the font and size differ. o Identical mistakes on an assignment. o Note any changes in font, size, or margin. o Mark partners or groups assignments together. o Note long lists of websites as references, but there are no citations within the text. Ways to prevent and/or detect cheating in exams: o Do not allow the following at a student s desk: CTLT TA Marking Handbook Page 8

9 Bags Pencil cases Purses Electronic Devices Books, etc. o Check washrooms before, during, and after the examination. If possible, escort students to the washroom. o Requires students to sign in and out of exams especially for washroom breaks. o Request students to sit at least one chair apart. o Separate friends, partners, or groups during exams. o Tappers students will tap on their desk to indicate question 1, 2, 3, etc. and then tap again to indicate answer a, b, c, etc. Procedure o Document any suspected plagiarism or cheating and always inform the instructor do not approach the student yourself. o Instructor will contact the student to inform the student fully of the offence and present the evidence for it. o If the matter is serious or is not resolved between the student and faculty member, it will be discussed by the student, faculty member, and the Chair of the program involved. o Faculty will complete proper paperwork which will go on the student s file. o Academic offenses may be penalized by reprimand; reduction of grade; probation; and/or suspension. D) Assigning Participation/Etiquette/Group Marks Include participation, etiquette, group marks in your rubric. Methods to assign participation marks: o Take attendance. o Mark down beside the person s name on the class list whenever she or he has a comment or question in class. o Give them marks even if they don t participate a lot but they do participate and don t just sit there o Ask specific questions to specific students, but be sure to outline who is given the questions beforehand. o Give marks for showing up to office hours. o Could give students participation marks for handing in assignments, because they made the effort to turn in the assignment. o Choose a different student each class to summarize the previous day s lecture. Methods to assign group marks o Peer evaluations the peers may receive the comments later or it could be anonymous peer evaluations. o Evenly divide the mark between the students. CTLT TA Marking Handbook Page 9

10 o Break the assignment total mark into sections: Group mark (same for everyone) Individual effort (based on what the Teaching Assistant sees and is different for each individual) Peer evaluation (based on what the group members think) o Request a weekly reporting the group s progress, efforts, and concerns. o Require the group to keep all s contact, meeting notes and chat room discussions to hand in with their final assignment. E) Fairness/Objectivity/Equitability Don t look at students names on their assignments or essays. Take regular breaks while marking. Do not make assumptions about the quality of a student s work based on your opinion or him or her. Try to read the student s entire answer and not to just look for key words. However, be aware that certain questions may require specific words to be included in the answer. After marking a section or question, change the order of the papers so that you have no expectations for particular papers. Mark all class or laboratory sections at the same time i.e. If you run three tutorial sections, mark question 1 for all three sections in one sitting. Be aware of your own position on topics and try to leave your emotions and opinions at the door. Mark simply on content and follow your rubric closely. Ask students to write the same code name for all assignments. F) Assisting Students with Disabilities Ask at the beginning of the semester for any students who may require extra assistance to speak with you in private or to contact Disability Services. Be aware that some students may require extra time to complete their assignments/exams or to answer questions in class. Be aware of different literacy levels and try to mark more for content and less on how the content was presented. Use different types of assignments (essays, presentations, diagram drawings) that make use of different learning styles. CTLT TA Marking Handbook Page 10

11 UNBC Grading Criteria UNBC grading regulations Grading System - Undergraduate Students UNBC Grade Point Letter Grade Percentage Definition/Standing 4.33 A % Excellent 4.00 A % 3.67 A % 3.33 B % Good 3.00 B % 2.67 B % 2.33 C % Satisfactory 2.00 C % 1.67 C % Marginal 1.33 D % 1.00 D % 0.67 D % 0.00 F % Failure The following are not included in academic average: P - Passing grade AEG - Aegrotat standing DEF - Deferred grade W - Withdrawn WE - Withdrawn under extenuating circumstances AUD - Audit of course INP - Course or thesis work in progress NGR - No grade reported credit awarded credit awarded no credit awarded no credit awarded no credit awarded no credit awarded CTLT TA Marking Handbook Page 11

12 Resources Others o TA peers o Graduate students o Faculty supervisor UNBC Teaching Assistant Manual o Hard copy at the Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Technology (Room ) or on the CTLT website at UNBC Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Technology o Room o Web-based Resources o University of Maryland s Freshman Writing Program and the Centre for Teaching Excellence (2002) Grading Student Papers: Some Guidelines for Commenting on and Grading Students Written Work in Any Discipline. Retrieved on August 18, 2008 from o Teaching Resource Centre, Berkeley University. (n.d.) Efficient Grading. Retrieved on August 2, 2007 from o Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto (n.d.) Grading Philosophy Papers, Tests and Assignments. Retrieved on September 2, 2007 from PAPERS.htm. Practice o On your own, try marking and providing comments for the three different laboratory reports and then compare your answers to the marked copies on the CTLT website CTLT TA Marking Handbook Page 12