Marking for TAs TA Marking 1 Objective The
Marking for TA’s TA Marking 1
Objective The Guardian Participants will be able to develop a plan that will enable TA’s to mark student assignments fairly, accurately, and effectively. TA Marking - John Parry - UBCO -CTL 2
Discussion FCSI. WS One of your assignments this semester is to mark student work. You have been handed a stack of 100 papers. What information do you need to know before you can begin? TA Marking 3
What do you need to discuss with your supervisor? TA Marking 4
Develop a plan! Supervisors and TA marking colleagues, discuss the following: unitymanagement • What should we communicate to the students prior to submission? TA Marking
Develop a plan! Supervisors and TA marking colleagues, discuss the following: unitymanagement • What should we communicate to the students prior to submission? • What are the objectives of the assignment? TA Marking
Develop a plan! Supervisors and TA marking colleagues, discuss the following: unitymanagement • What should we communicate to the students prior to submission? • What are the objectives of the assignment? • What should we look for in order to evaluate the essays? TA Marking
Develop a plan! Supervisors and TA marking colleagues, discuss the following: unitymanagement • What should we communicate to the students prior to submission? • What are the objectives of the assignment? • What should we look for in order to evaluate the essays? • What constitutes an excellent, good, adequate, or poor paper? TA Marking
Develop a plan! Supervisors and TA marking colleagues, discuss the following: unitymanagement • What should we communicate to the students prior to submission? • What are the objectives of the assignment? • What should we look for in order to evaluate the essays? • What constitutes an excellent, good, adequate, or poor paper? • What should we include in our comments? TA Marking
Develop a plan! Supervisors and TA marking colleagues, discuss the following: unitymanagement • What should we communicate to the students prior to submission? • What are the objectives of the assignment? • What should we look for in order to evaluate the essays? • What constitutes an excellent, good, adequate, or poor paper? • What should we include in our comments? • How can we manage our time? How long should we spend on marking? TA Marking
Evaluating the Writing Discuss the following with your supervisor: Clarify the relative weighting of content, expression, format, grammar, etc. TA Marking 11
Evaluating the Writing Discuss the following with your supervisor: Clarify the relative weighting of content, expression, format, grammar, etc. Share sample essays to calibrate your marking: have each marker read essays to locate excellent, good, average, and poor. Share these and discuss. Develop a set of attributes tied to each of the TA Marking 12 letter grades.
Communicating Expectations to Students Stress expectations and university standards. Include detailed formatting expectations. Identify the required documentation style. Clarify precise expectations related to submission. Discuss plagiarism, how to avoid it, consequences, and process. Double spaced ? Binders ? TA Marking 13
SWBAT … TA Marking 14
Consider using letters (tied to UBC numbers) rather than numbers. Sometimes numbers communicate quality (A=excellent), and quality is what you are looking for. A+ 90 – 100 A 85 – 89 A- 80 - 84 B+ 76 – 79 B 72 - 75 TA Marking 15
Another Question What does a good paper look like? Average? Failing paper? TA Marking 16
Sites. fcps. org TA Marking 17
Style Complexity TA Marking 18
New Question How much commenting should I do? TA Marking 19
Including Useful Comments that run through the paper should help the student understand what they are doing wrong or incorrectly as well as what they are doing well or right. These comments help the student understand the grade. TA Marking 20
• A marking sheet helps reduce the amount of writing you have to do! TA Marking 21
• A marking sheet helps reduce the amount of writing you have to do! • Your final, summative comments should help the student understand why his or her paper deserved the mark it received. TA Marking 22
• A marking sheet helps reduce the amount of writing you have to do! • Your final, summative comments should help the student understand why his or her paper deserved the mark it received. • Include what he or she did right and what he or she should do to improve on the next assignment. TA Marking 23
• A marking sheet helps reduce the amount of writing you have to do! • Your final, summative comments should help the student understand why his or her paper deserved the mark it received. • Include what he or she did right and what he or she should do to improve on the next assignment. • End on a positive note (“I’m looking forward to reading your next paper. ”) TA Marking 24
A useful tip … Marking sheets and grade descriptions sd 23 Consider providing students with self review sheets that correlate to the assignment and the marking sheets. TA Marking 25
• Calibration meetings: Seton. com • Before marking, to discuss assignment and expectations. • Early in marking, to recalibrate based on sample papers. • After marking, to compare experience and discuss difficult or special cases. TA Marking 26
A few cautions … If you suspect plagiarism or cheating … Any papers that raise concerns related to academic integrity must be returned immediately to the instructor. TA Marking 27
A few cautions … If you feel that you are being bribed notify the instructor and clarify the issue with the student. If you sense that a student is depressed or anxious notify the instructor, your unit’s administrative assistant, the Health and Wellness Centre (http: //www. ubc. ca/okanagan/students/healthwellness/welcome. html). TA Marking 28
How do you handle an appeal? Always discuss in private Be prepared to explain criteria If you have made an error, correct it Explain that the student should consult further with the professor TA Marking 29
This is his first semester at university, and Jeff is used to getting “A’s” in high school. He has just received his first “C” ever on the midterm in the course you are grading. He has emailed saying the test was unfair and asked to meet with you. What do you do? TA Marking 30
Final Thought Careful planning and assignment design can help students, streamline marking, ensure fairness and accuracy, and reduce questions and queries. TA Marking 31
http: //www. cte. umd. edu/teaching/resources/Grading. Handbook. pdf University of Maryland Guide TA Marking 32
Grading Resources Walvoord & Anderson (2009) 2 nd ed. Effective Grading: A Tool for Learning and Assessment. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass (1998) IDEA papers: http: //www. theideacenter. org/category/helpful- resources/knowledge-base/ideapaper Improving College Grading: http: //www. theideacenter. org/sites/default/files/Idea_Paper Nilson, Linda. B. (2003) Grading: Tests, Assignments, and Course Performance. In Teaching at its best: A research-based resource for college instructors. 2 nd ed. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing p. 211 -220 Edwards, N. M. (2007). Student self-grading in social statistics. College Teaching, v 55, no. 2, p 72 -75. Landrum & Dietz (2006) Grading without points. College Teaching, v 54, no. 4, p 298 -301. http: //t 4. jordan. k 12. ut. us/teacher_resources/Rubrics. html TA Marking 33
Grading handbook This is an excellent resource from the University of Maryland. Download it from: http: //www. cte. umd. edu/teaching/resources/Grading. Handbook. pdf Marking for TA’s A copy of today’s Power. Point is on our CTL website. http: //www. ubc. ca/okanagan/ctl/tagrad/resources. html TA Marking 34
en. hdyo. org Comments TA Marking 35
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