It's final exam season here, and that means some sort of post about grading, plagiarism, student writing, etc. A few conversations and experiences that I've had this past week got me thinking about some issues surrounding the ethics of grading. I should preface all of this by saying we're on a 10-week quarter system.
I've had more papers to grade this quarter than I've ever had in my life, I think. I taught three classes: 40, 40, and 50 students. One of the 40-student classes was writing-intensive: I incorporated a scaffolded final paper assignment that included having me give feedback on their drafts. The papers were 6-8 pages long. The other 40-person class had three short writing assignments and a final paper (two pages each and 6-8 pages). The 50-person class required two-page responses to each class and/or concert they attended (this syllabus was not of my design; it's a departmental standard) as well as a four-page final paper. Every Wednesday, I would wake up to 100+ e-mails in my inbox, each with some sort of assignment attached.
That's a lot of grading. Often, it would take me an hour just to download everything from my e-mail.
I was having a conversation with some students and they remarked that they didn't know how I stayed on top of everything: "I send you something and in an hour I have an e-mail back from you that says 'Got it--thanks.'" And they seemed pleased with the level of feedback that I was giving them, as well. (I, on the other hand, was at the end of my rope, feeling like Lucy in the chocolate factory.) One student said that she had a professor who clearly didn't read the assignments that they received--one student submitted a paper that simply said "Have a nice day" and they received a 100%.
Some observations:
In another situation, I have a student that I suspected of plagiarism in the course with weekly papers. Giving the student the benefit of the doubt, I sent an e-mail explaining that this is plagiarism, here's why, and here's how to avoid it: if you do it again, there will be consequences. Said student did it again. I explained the consequences: no credit for the course (it's pass/fail) and a report filed with student affairs. I offered to speak with her one-on-one; the student did not reply. The student submitted another, and another, and another... It's hands-down one of the most bizarre plagiarism situations I've dealt with.
Because of this situation, the student will not be able to graduate next week. I feel bad about that; however, for such an egregious case, I can't just let the student slip through the cracks. This pains me, because I'm sure there were all sorts of graduation and post-graduation plans in effect. (I suspect the student will be able to complete in the summer and get on with things after that, but I don't know.)
Some observations from this situation:
I've had more papers to grade this quarter than I've ever had in my life, I think. I taught three classes: 40, 40, and 50 students. One of the 40-student classes was writing-intensive: I incorporated a scaffolded final paper assignment that included having me give feedback on their drafts. The papers were 6-8 pages long. The other 40-person class had three short writing assignments and a final paper (two pages each and 6-8 pages). The 50-person class required two-page responses to each class and/or concert they attended (this syllabus was not of my design; it's a departmental standard) as well as a four-page final paper. Every Wednesday, I would wake up to 100+ e-mails in my inbox, each with some sort of assignment attached.
That's a lot of grading. Often, it would take me an hour just to download everything from my e-mail.
I was having a conversation with some students and they remarked that they didn't know how I stayed on top of everything: "I send you something and in an hour I have an e-mail back from you that says 'Got it--thanks.'" And they seemed pleased with the level of feedback that I was giving them, as well. (I, on the other hand, was at the end of my rope, feeling like Lucy in the chocolate factory.) One student said that she had a professor who clearly didn't read the assignments that they received--one student submitted a paper that simply said "Have a nice day" and they received a 100%.
Some observations:
- If you assign it, take the time to read it/correct it and offer feedback. I read every paper that I receive, and comment on it. Sometimes it's something as basic as "Great job! Be sure to italicize names of newspapers." I try to include something that lets them know I read it.
- Make your expectations clear. For the final papers in the 40-person classes, we developed rubrics together as a class, and I sent them out so that they could look at them while they worked on their papers. The expectations are clear and how I'm going to grade them is also clear. Rubrics, of course, aren't the only way to make one's expectations clear.
- Return work in a timely fashion. In particular, when I teach theory classes, I do everything in my power to return work by the next class period. Because of the sequential nature of the material, students need to know right away that they don't understand treble clefs before they go on to part-writing.
- Assess based on the material you've covered. I have an over-achieving friend who once got a 65% on a test, and it was the highest grade in the class. The teacher used a pre-packaged test that assessed the material in Chapter 1 of Textbook B; however, they were using Textbook A in class. The teacher didn't see a problem with this--chapter 1 is chapter 1, right?
- I often will let students help to create the tests that they'll take: solicit questions on index cards, see which are most common, throw in a few of my own, use them to make a review sheet. This gives the students ownership of the material and (again) makes the expectations well known.
- If a handful of students bomb an assignment, it's their fault. If a majority of the students in your class bomb an assignment, it's your fault. Don't be afraid to admit you were wrong.
In another situation, I have a student that I suspected of plagiarism in the course with weekly papers. Giving the student the benefit of the doubt, I sent an e-mail explaining that this is plagiarism, here's why, and here's how to avoid it: if you do it again, there will be consequences. Said student did it again. I explained the consequences: no credit for the course (it's pass/fail) and a report filed with student affairs. I offered to speak with her one-on-one; the student did not reply. The student submitted another, and another, and another... It's hands-down one of the most bizarre plagiarism situations I've dealt with.
Because of this situation, the student will not be able to graduate next week. I feel bad about that; however, for such an egregious case, I can't just let the student slip through the cracks. This pains me, because I'm sure there were all sorts of graduation and post-graduation plans in effect. (I suspect the student will be able to complete in the summer and get on with things after that, but I don't know.)
Some observations from this situation:
- I didn't put the student in this situation, the student put themself* in the situation (*I know it's grammatically incorrect, but I'm trying to stay gender-neutral to maintain anonymity)
- I made myself available to help the student via e-mail, office hours, and before class, and communicated often with the student (who apparently chose to ignore the e-mails they didn't want to see)
- I am ethically obligated to report such incidents, regardless of the potential outcomes.
- Construct assignments that discourage plagiarism (i.e., scaffolded assignments, pre-picked topics, narrow source list). I caught this student within seconds of reading the first paper because it didn't conform to the assignment guidelines.
- I never grade on a curve.
- I RARELY offer extra credit (you're supposed to do all the work the right way the first time; I will offer extra credit for something that is truly above and beyond, but it's generally a very minimal amount)
- Class-designed rubrics and tests seem to be a nice way to balance criterion-referenced and norm-referenced grading (i.e., comparing the assignment to a preexisting set of standards vs. comparing the work to that done by others in the class)