by Rosalind Diaz, English Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2018 Grading rubrics are an invaluable teaching tool. Ideally, they promote fairness and transparency in assessment, and help students set reasonable goals, develop metacognition, and practice self-assessment. But a rubric can also act as a gatekeeper of knowledge. Vague, abstruse, or circularly…
Researchers in college composition and second-language acquisition have a lot to say about correction and feedback strategies on student papers, especially when improvement of student writing skills is the dominant objective. In this workshop, GSIs will explore some of the research and, using samples of student writing, work on feedback strategies…
by Christian Lambert, Goldman School of Public Policy Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2016 Assessing student work is the household chore of any given course: important and useful, but often begrudged and disparaged, too. As an instructor in an introductory course that many students pursue in order to fulfill pre-requisites for…
by Rebecca Elliott, Sociology In deference to the time they put into writing their exams, I spend considerable time writing up my reactions. I provide substantive feedback in the form of questions and comments, in both marginal notes and in a narrative paragraph...[but] how could I ensure that my students read, reflected, and internalized my feedback in a way that would improve their skills and enhance their learning?
by Seemay Chou, Molecular and Cell Biology I found that the problem was not rooted in lack of comprehension but an imprecision in their scientific language, owing to their lack of experience in the field. They felt that they knew the answers but could not express what they were trying to say...They needed to think and speak in the same language as scientists.
by Christopher Rider, Business Administration By providing detailed, constructive feedback specific to each student’s essay, my students developed a stronger idea of what was expected. By posing open-ended questions in the feedback emails, I engaged many motivated students to participate in an ongoing email exchange and stimulated many students’ interest in pursuing their topics further.
by Bryan Zeitler, Molecular and Cell Biology One thing I find particularly frustrating is achieving a meaningful class dialogue after student presentations. Despite repeated calls for questions or comments from the class, it is not unusual for me to be the only one speaking after a student talk...[so] I implemented a written and oral peer review process that encouraged students to actively participate during and after student presentations.