Grading Effectively and Efficiently Last week, CFT assistant
director Derek Bruff facilitated a faculty workshop titled
“Assessment of Student Learning: Grading Effectively and
Efficiently.” During the workshop, the participants surfaced a
few reasons why grading can be challenging, particularly in
small classes and when grading student papers. Grading in Small
Classes - In a small class, students expect a lot of instructor
comments on their work. You can’t use the excuse that you have
too many students to give individual feedback! - Moreover, in a
small class, you typically know your students well and have more
of a rapport with them. This increases your obligation to take a
lot of time in grading and responding to their work. - That
level of rapport means that it can be harder to be objective in
one’s grading, too. Grading Student Papers - It can be hard to
find the right amount of feedback to give students on their
papers. Do you approach their work as a copy editor would,
marking up errors and problems in