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?