Striking a balance in the grading system

MARKING It right

Grading is a task which not only impacts the expectations of a student, but is also very challenging for instructors themselves. Not only is it a tedious and time consuming task, it is also responsibility of the evaluator to be fair and not have an inconsistent or biased judgement. Moreover there are different kinds of assignments like presentations, essays, exams, creative activities etc., which require grading techniques that are slightly different from each other.

This is also accompanied by the task of making the student focus on exploring the subject and acknowledging its importance and not just concentrating on getting “good grades”. The process of grading is not as easy as a couple of ticks and crosses and a final score. It involves judgement, fairness, establishing standards, making decisions and deciding what comments would be most useful in guiding a student’s learning. Instructors generally feel grading to be a tedious task but there are a few tips that can be used by them to simplify the process and maintain the quality. Firstly, highlight the errors of the student. It is imperative to not only mention the error but also explain how to correct it.

If it is a subsequently occurring error, it should be highlighted or underlined so that the student pays special attention to it. This method saves time for both the instructor and the student. It is scientifically proven that use of colours, shapes and figures eases the understanding process of our mind. So by highlighting, or using different colours to underline it will be easier to catch the students attention and make them focus on their mistakes.

Secondly, the use of bank comments can be very effective for keeping a track of students’ errors, mistakes and plus points. This can be done by grouping of comments as per the different modules, assignments, chapter, content or organisation. Keeping a bank of comment provides easy access to details of the student and the type of error s/he makes.
Thirdly, the concept of “Frontload feedback” can also be applied for easy correction and improvement techniques. According to this concept instructors should write comments that enable students to improve their future assignments and not just correct their present ones.

For instance, when students give their first draft of a project, teachers should try giving as much feedback as possible so it can be used constructively in the future assignments. This method is effective as it will also hold the student responsible for application of the correction in his further and final drafts. This will enable in creation of a final draft which will have minor errors but not require anything that needs to be explained in depth.

Fourth, it is important that as instructors we are able to convey our points to the students. Thus there is a need to keep our message simple and understandable. The comments given should not become convoluted so as to impair learning. Efforts should be made to keep the language comprehensible and accessible to the student.

Fifth, the attitude and approach while grading is also very important. The primary goal for the student or the teacher should not become attaining good or high grades, it should always be attaining maximum knowledge and understanding the subject. The students involvement in learning should be the main criterion for grading and assignments. The grading pattern should be such that it can communicate the student’s engagement and practical knowledge of the subject.

Sixth, teachers should ensure while grading that their comments have use and are still important. Giving comments on an assignment which cannot further help in future assignments or help improve grades becomes a futile activity and only increases the time and work involved in the process. Teachers and instructors should give comments that help in increasing the future performance of the students and which can help enhance the learning and quality of a subsequent assignment.

Seventh, grading is only an effective technique of communicating results if the student has prepared well and given their hundred per cent efforts. For this, it is important that the teachers have conveyed all the required information such as due date, type of content needed, objectives of the assignment etc., well in advance to the student. If the information is not provided to the student in suitable time and in the required manner, it will lead to unfair evaluation of the assignment.

Eighth, the instructors should ensure they do not respond to everything that requires adjustment and correction. The student may not be able to apply the significant changes if he is crowded by a large number of changes to be made. Many struggling students have key areas they need to focus on, and this becomes difficult when instructors ask for changes in all areas of their assignment.

This also makes the student feel underconfident and intimidated, which might put a barrier to their thinking and ability to put forward their ideas. The teachers need to keep in mind that not just the numerical weightage of their assignment but the psychological openness of the student towards his environment is also an essential part of learning.

Lastly, the teacher should be able to devise smart questions which help the students revise, understand and reflect on their assignment. These questions should be able to help the students to think critically and analytically.The student should be able to analyse if he is interested in a particular aspect of the study or if he is particularly interested in the subject. These questions should help the student draw conclusions, prompt thoughtful revisions and help generate thoughts for future assignments and studies.

The more conscious and careful an instructor is about giving advice, the better the feedback tends to be. The instructors are usually in the dilemma between increasing efficiency or effectiveness of their grading techniques. However, it is important to strike a balance as effective and efficient grading can have a considerably positive impact on the students.