2019 12 11

8 Mistakes Teachers Unknowingly Make when Grading in Moodle

8 Mistakes Teachers Unknowingly Make when Grading in Moodle

Teachers making mistakes? While grading? That’s blasphemy! Grading is second nature for teachers and we expect them to be superheroes. They ought to know everything about the subject and grading too, naturally! But hey! Teachers are human and as the saying goes – ‘To err is human’ 

Naturally, teachers do make mistakes, although unknowingly. What are these? How can they be prevented?

 

Let’s have a look at the common errors teachers make when grading in Moodle and how they can be mended.

#1 Ignoring Reattempts

Students are bound to attempt quizzes more than once. Especially if they’ve not scored well the first time. But at times, instead of considering the best score from the reattempts we pick the most recent or average out the results. 

This means if students do not perform well on latter quizzes they’ll lose out on a good score. But that shouldn’t be the case should it? The best result should always be considered since it reflects their knowledge of the subject in the best way possible.

By doing so, you tend to give students a positive push to help them perform better. 

The Solution

If you allow reattempts, make sure you record the highest score a student has achieved rather than averaging out all results.

 

#2 Highlighting mistakes and not strengths

Constructive feedback is key while grading quizzes. What usually happens is, either because of the number of students to be graded or the overwhelming task list at hand, we tend to hurry up with feedback. 

To help students improve we think its best to point out the mistakes and give them scores. However, grading is so much more than that. Positive comments along with constructive feedback help give students the motivation they need to move on in the course. 

The Solution

Start your feedback with positive comments. This helps students get comfortable and accept criticism positively.

 

#3 Delaying Feedback & Grading

Each question opens up in a new tab on Moodle, which makes grading a bumpy ride. Providing feedback on the quiz is another headache altogether. Stress and shortage of time make us procrastinate or push things for later. As a result, the grading and feedback process is delayed. This makes students lose interest or even the connect they had with the quiz.

It becomes difficult for them to recall their answers and to completely understand the feedback given.

The Solution

Grade on time. Students should receive the results of their test in 1-2 days. In case it’s a big class, tell them when they should be expecting the results and stick to the proposed date.

 

#4 Skipping one-on-one discussions 

As mentioned, giving feedback to students is extremely important. What’s more vital is having one-to-one discussions. Offline discussions between the teacher and students encourage conversations regarding not just the quiz, but also the core understanding of the subject and difficulties faced by the students. 

 Many times, due to tight schedules, teachers skip the one-to-one discussions, making the mistake of distancing themselves from the students. Over time, not getting critical constructive feedback, could make students lose interest in the course and impact course drop out.

The Solution

Keep time aside to talk to your students privately; offline or host one-to-one sessions online. This will help you get an insight into student understanding and improve your teaching abilities.

 

#5 Grading things that don’t need to be graded

Yes, we were just talking about the importance of grading and sharing feedback. And, yes, now we’re talking about unnecessary grading. But it’s true. Teachers don’t know when to stop. Things like homework, revision assignments don’t need grading, do they? They are only there for the learning. A mere glance through is enough. We commit the mistake of unnecessarily grading these things. This leads to time being wasted, which could be used productively elsewhere. 

The Solution

Figure out tests that need to be graded and things that don’t. Clearly, things that are simply meant for students to work upon so as to improve their understanding don’t need to be graded. Whereas, quizzes that help evaluate student performance to check their progress need grading.

 

#6 Not allocating time for Grading

Grading is as important if not more than teaching. Managing and allocating time for teaching, taking quizzes, grading and feedback are the basics. Teachers forget this and either end up working overtime or else compromise on the other tasks at hand like updating courses. 

The Solution

It’s important to allocate time for grading when creating and managing a course schedule. This helps you better understand the amount of bandwidth you have for all your tasks.

 

#7 Skipping Feedback 

Moodle’s interface takes some getting used to. But the grading process is long and tedious and can take up too much of a teacher’s time. Teachers are stressed out or working overtime, which makes them forget feedback. Giving feedback is highly essential as students it helps them perform better. 

The Solution

Grading on moodle can take time. This effort-consuming interface is a hindrance to the evaluation process and pushes teachers to procrastinate or skip on important activities like feedback. An extension, such as the Edwiser RapidGrader, saves up a lot of time, allowing teachers to grade papers faster with a single screen grader. This, in turn, motivates them to share feedback with each of their students using the feedback box. This guides the students’ performance and keeps the teachers stress-free.

 

#8 Using wrong parameters

Grading objective type questions is a breeze for teachers as scoring would range between definite numbers eg. 1-10 or 0-100%.  However, for subjective questions – essays and open-ended questions – grading these objectively would be a mistake. This calls for a more flexible scoring system.  

The Solution

Moodle does not offer a lot of options when it comes to scoring. But an extension, like Edwiser’s RapidGrader, allows teachers to evaluate students using multiple grading techniques.

 

Final Thoughts

Grading is as important as good course material. It helps you understand student capabilities, pushes them to perform better, and evaluate course progress.

But if things aren’t simple, teachers could end up making mistakes which could affect the overall course experience. With tools like Edwiser RapidGrader, the grading process can be made smoother and efficient, leading to a better tutoring experience.

What are your thoughts? Do you think your teachers are doing a good job with grading? Share your experience, thoughts, and views in the comments section down below.

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