sustainable grading ralph westfall, ph.d. april 2010 http:/rdwestfall/grading/sustaingrade.ppt...
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Sustainable GradingRalph Westfall, Ph.D. April 2010
http:/www.csupomona.edu/~rdwestfall/grading/sustaingrade.ppthttp:/www.csupomona.edu/~rdwestfall/grading/
What Is Sustainable Grading?• Sustainable in terms of:• Reducing or eliminating paper usage• Conserving the time and energy of the person doing
the grading• Increasing consistency, which could reduce grade
disputes
Grading Problems• Context: computer programming and web
development classes
• Issues• Too many students (60 - 90 in CIS120!)• Takes too long per student• Inconsistencies in evaluations• Hard to spot cheating• Paper is inefficient, especially when using a
learning management system (Blackboard)• killing trees• searching content is difficult
Computer Assisted Grading• Things that I have tried in conjunction with learning
management systems• Multiple Word files• Notepad files• Microsoft Excel spreadsheets
• for sequencing grading as first-in/first out• for recording detail and calculating scores
• Custom software I'm developing
Multiple Word Files• Students submit all assignments into
Blackboard in zip files that include:• individual programming code files for testing• Word files that have pasted into them: • all relevant code• images (including user interfaces when running code)• outputs
• Grade files in order submitted (sort dates in Excel)• turn on Track Changes• mark comments with ** to make easy to find and total• refer back to previously graded files for consistency (can
copy comments)
Word Files Demonstration• Ken (ASP.NET coding assignment in a Visual
Basic.NET class)• Most of comments placed around the image of the
interface
Multiple Word: Pros and Cons• Pluses• Increased consistency• Easier to spot cheating• Can provide relatively detailed feed back and
corrections• Can use Find to locate and help total deductions (all
marked with **)
• Minuses• Time consuming• High human memory demands
Notepad Files• Paste frequently used comments into Notepad• Including ** marker and scoring
• Paste them back into Word documents or Blackboard feedback
Notepad Demonstration• CIS 120 Web Development for Non-Technical
Students• These are grading comments on term project at
end of class
Notepad File Pros and Cons• Pros• simple• consistent on common issues
• Cons• Awkward• Somewhat labor intensive• Not comprehensive/not scalable• No sorting capability
Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet• Rubrics in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet• 1st column: points off• 2nd column: summary of grading issues• After that, one column per student (in submission
order determined with Excel )• Totals for each column• Split or Freeze Panes feature allows keeping first
two columns visible while scrolling horizontally through users
Excel Demonstration• Dummy class • I haven’t done this for a long time, and couldn’t find
any examples, but they’re on my computer somewhere
Microsoft Excel Pros and Cons• Pluses• High consistency• Very easy to spot cheating
• Minuses• Feed back and corrections often must be compressed
due to limitations of width of computer screen• Copying comments from spreadsheet into users Word file
is labor intensive• Unwieldy to deal with more than one screen of grading
items, which is not enough in many situations• Sorting grading comments makes them easier to use, but
takes extra effort
More Automation with Excel?• Use Visual Basic for Applications to make the
spreadsheet easier to use• Could reduce labor but would still be limited in
terms of comment detail• Would require extra coding to make as fail-safe as
a database application• Less analytical possibilities than a database
application
Stand-Alone Application• Visual Basic plus a database• Less coding than an Excel application would require• Use existing database capabilities rather than adding
them to Excel's capabilities• Add, change, delete
• More extensible• Easier to maintain
• Labor-saving functionalities• Automate copying of comments rather than having to
manually select and copy• Built in sorting in combobox that holds all the comments
Demonstration of System• Download and extract files from GradeSQL.zip
into a folder on your Desktop (or wherever)
• Double-click GradeSQL.exe file in Debug folder• Or add a “shortcut” to file to start menu
• Use Set Up tab to load items from database
• Click item you want to use and in right combobox and then paste it (Ctrl V) into file you are grading
• Type new comment in left textbox and click Add to add it to combobox and database
Future Plans• Implement desirable enhancements identified
through use
• Registered with Source Forge as an open source project, but hasn’t attracted a team• A student from India expressed interest in working
with me, but didn’t follow through on this project
• Publicize it• MERLOT• Forums and mailing lists• Follow up publication in an academic outlet
Conclusions• Not where I want it to be yet• Still awkward to use• Might be better to type short comments manually
and just use it for long comments (how-to instructions for students who aren’t “getting it”)
• Interface design is critical - need ability to• Show all comments at same time to make selection
easier and also show all scoring to help make manually typed short comments more consistent, without taking up a lot of room on the screen?
Survey/Brainstorming• Would you ever use something like this? • Why/not?
• What would have to be done to this to make it something you might consider using (ideally, without any technical constraints?)
• Other possible, non-critical improvements?