grading and feedback

Continuous and Rapid Testing (CaRT): A Simple Tool for Assessment and Communication

Tarun K. Dam and Purnima Bandyopadhyay December 1, 2016

Most conventional assessment strategies provide limited opportunities for instructors to realign teaching methods and revisit topics that students have not understood well. Teachers can communicate with students individually, but time constraints may prevent multiple individual conversations. Some students in the classroom are reluctant to ask

Making Feedback Matter

Cassandra O'Sullivan Sachar, EdD December 1, 2016

As teachers, we spend countless hours staying up late, reading essays, and making comments to help our students improve. We walk a delicate line, wanting to give students enough support to develop their papers while not overwhelming them with red ink. We carefully foster their

Dos and Don’ts of Effective Feedback

B. Jean Mandernach November 29, 2016

Do provide feedback that is action-oriented and tells student what they should do with the feedback information. Don’t focus exclusively on the cognitive component of learning without considering the impact of feedback on students’ motivation in the online classroom.

What’s a Good Faith Effort?

Maryellen Weimer October 28, 2015

In some types of assignments, it’s the process that’s more important than the product. Journals and online discussion exchanges, even homework problems, are good examples. Students are thinking and learning as they work to sort through ideas, apply content, or figure out how to solve

Exploring the Advantages of Rubrics

Maryellen Weimer September 9, 2015

“I don’t believe in giving students rubrics,” a faculty member told me recently. “They’re another example of something that waters down education.” I was telling him about a study I’d just read that documented some significant improvement in student papers when students used a detailed

Using Grading Policies to Promote Learning

Maryellen Weimer August 26, 2015

I just finished putting together some materials on grading policies for a series of Magna 20-Minute Mentor programs, and I am left with several important take-aways on the powerful role of grading policies. I’m not talking here about the grades themselves, but instead the policies

When to Use Whole Class Feedback

Maryellen Weimer September 17, 2014

Whole class feedback … you know, when the teacher returns a set of papers or exams and talks to the entire class about its performance, or the debriefing part of an activity where the teacher comments on how students completed the task. I don’t believe

Motivating Students: Should Effort Count?

Maryellen Weimer August 13, 2014

I’ve always said no, effort shouldn’t count. When students pleaded, “but I worked so hard,” or “I studied so long,” I would respond with the clichéd quip about people with brain tumors not wanting surgeons who try hard. Besides if students try hard, if they

Four Key Questions about Grading

Maryellen Weimer August 6, 2014

There’s an excellent article on grading in a recent issue of Cell Biology Education-Life Sciences Education. It offers a brief history of grading (it hasn’t been around for all that long), and then looks to the literature for answers to four key questions.