This workshop was offered twice in Jan. 2015. Please visit Resources from "A Better Way to Grade" for the workshop handout, additional readings, and a discussion summary.
"Grading is often the least favorite part of faculty's job, and as course loads and class sizes grow, it takes more and more of our time." According to Linda B. Nilson, "There must be--and there is--a better way to grade."
Writing in the Nov. 2014 NEA Higher Education Advocate (31:5), Nilson says, "Our current grading system is broken. It doesn't work well for faculty, students, post-secondary institutions, or prospective employers of our graduates." The system may or may not be broken. Do you agree with her that there is "A Better Way to Grade"?
Join other CSUN faculty for a one-hour discussion of Nilson's four-page micro-article:
- Choose Friday 1/23/15 or Monday 1/26/15
- CIELO conference room (SH 439)
- 11 a.m.-12 noon either day
- Light refreshments provided
Note: paper copies of the NEA Higher Education Advocate go to all members of CFA at CSUN. The article is also available online as part of the entire issue.
Related reading:
Fink, L. Dee. The Psychology of Feedback and Assessment. Tomorrow's Professor, Post 1373. Rpt. from "Designing Significant Learning Experiences I: Getting Started," ch. 3 in the book Creating Significant Learning Experiences, Revised and Updated: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2013.
Martin, Brian. Marking (Grading) Essays: Making It Easier and More Fun. Tomorrow's Professor, Post 1360. This short piece covers pacing, staying fresh, going faster, marking less, varied assignments, and other applications of his practical suggestions.
Nilson, Linda E. A Better Way to Grade. "Thriving in Academe." The NEA Higher Education Advocate 31.5 (Nov. 2014): 6-9.
Walvoord, Barbara E., and Virginia Johnson Anderson. Effective Grading: A Tool for Learning and Assessment. San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 1998. The Faculty Development library (in CIELO) owns several copies of this book. A second edition of this sensible and comprehensive book was published in 2009, and is now on order for the AFYE library (also in CIELO).
Weimer, Maryellen. Four Key Questions about Grading. Faculty Focus. 6 Aug 2014. Rpt. from Teaching Professor Blog. Don't miss the comments at the end of this summary overview; some of them are quite interesting. Want to read the full article Weimer summarizes? That would be Schinske, J. and Tanner, K., (2014). Teaching more by grading less (or differently). Cell Biology Education—Life Sciences Education, 13 (Summer), 159-166. It's available electronically from Oviatt Library. See http://suncat.csun.edu/record=b2753088.
Writing in Large GE Classes: Resources for Doing the Impossible. Academic First Year Experiences at CSU Northridge. Web. Resources collected by Cheryl Spector with Anne Kellenberger, Sharon Klein, and Whitney Scott. 2014.
