I’ve been grading the last batch of papers and final exams for my online students this week. Some of my blog posts are shorter than usual, but I have been posting some long articles that I had finished a few weeks ago.
I’ll return to my usual long posts next week.
Grading has been a challenge because one part of the TurnitIn.com grading system is not working properly. One reason that I like TurnItIn.com is its online paper marking system, GradeMark. The commenting portion of the system is working just fine.
Usually I check off my scoring marks in a very pretty graphical matrix, which then calculates the assignment grade based upon the total number of possible points for the criterion (row) multiplied by a percentage on a vertical scale (column).
I have to create that matrix in a web-based editor, and it’s the matrix editor that is crashing. The matrix files are stored as a complex text file, and I have not figured out a way to create that file myself. Here’s an example of a rubric file.
So I have reverted to my old stand-by system: typing the scoring matrix into the general comments section of each paper’s GradeMark report.
Then I calculate the grade myself and enter that number into the TurnItIn.com gradebook.
This takes a bit longer than the automated system, but I rigged up a macro that types in a basic grading matrix for me.
Tags: students, teaching
