What I would like to see happen is accountability set up within the system itself. Because having only 25 per week as a quota is not cutting it, if there could be a way to determine the amount of briefs each person would need to grade in order to get each set of briefs completely done, then that is what the quota should be. Outside of that quota that is where you responsibility stops. This may sound harsh and potentially unfair to the students because what if they get stuck with a grader who is behind with grading. Well, I have been told that I should look at myself as being a "student first" then a grader. I cannot do that with a clear conscience if I know that there are 500 briefs in my groups queue. Having specific individual quotas could potentially creating a personal accountability with each grader. If they do not grade their amount, then THEY will have to make up for it and not the group.
Venting session...done.
3 comments:
Rachel,
I wholeheartedly agree with you! This is my first year of teaching and online grading. To me, a quota is a quota. If the number says 25, then that's the number you should grade to. I have had so many warnings from students who have done this before. Some people say, "Don't grade too much or you'll hog up all the papers for the other graders." Some say, "Grade over or you'll never get done at the end of the semester." It is insane! How are you supposed to know what to do? I don't want to prevent anyone from meeting their quota, but I also don't want to lose time in my own studies trying to catch up on grading at the end of the semester. Why doesn't the quota reflect the actual number we will be expected to grade? I don't understand the point of having the quota if it doesn't function in this way.
I struggle with balancing the student/teacher roles as well. It is so difficult. Professors have told us we are students first because if you aren't a student, you can't be a teacher. Guess what, I am not independently wealthy, so if I am not a teacher, I am not able to support myself as a student. I wrestle with this constantly, every day.
Though I am not grading this semester, I am can definitely feel for you. It is unfair to set a quota that is way below the actual amount of papers. The way it is people are getting punished for doing a good job and grading in a timely manner. This is not a communist society.
These are all interesting musings about the TOPIC system. I look forward to seeing more of these observations in the final exam along with some related "dialogue" with the scholars we have been reading. Maybe we can find a better solution.
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