Blog #4

Grading Papers - I liked this section of the reading because I rarely find instructors doing this for their classes. In fact, when I taught my college level class last summer, I did not do this, and I should have. I guess I thought I explained what should be included in their papers, which most students included and received a high grade. There were however a couple students that did not get the grade they thought they earned. Maybe if the grading criteria for papers were spelled out more in detail, those couple students maybe would have done better or at least would have a better understanding up front what they need to do to earn an "A" on their paper. I noticed that my couple students did better during their second paper (since they understood the expectations). I will do a better job with this issue by putting the paper grading criteria in my syllabus.

Providing Feedback - This is extremely important for students. It was amazing how much the students I had last summer in my class appreciated the feedback. With all the comments I received from the students regarding feedback, I believe not all professors are giving students feedback. I feel if students are putting in the time to complete an assignment a professor assigned, the least a professor should do is take the time to read and provide feedback. I will continue to provide feedback to the students, which in my opinion is the ethically right thing to do. As the book mentioned too, I need to remember to also include the positive comments and not only the things that are confusing or not correct.

Allowing Paper Revisions - The first thing that came to my mind was, "no way". This may be a little selfish, but I found it difficult to keep up with the regular assignments students turned in. I do not have time look though the paper again. Now, honestly, I can see how it would benefit some students if they did not fully understand the assignment or major concepts. I think if a student would talk to me outside of class and gave a good reason why they should re-write their paper, I think I would allow it. Is that fair? I am not sure, but I think it would be the right thing to do. The book mentioned that students should be aware that their grade could go down on a revised paper. That would be a major issue if the student's paper was worse. Regarding grades, I like how the book mentioned the importance of handing back papers at the end of class versus the beginning. If a professor can prevent a negative student attitude or "protest", that is best.

Cheating - I believe cheating is extremely common in college. I was somewhat surprised that the book mentioned 75-98% of college students cheated in high school. That seems a little high, but with the Internet and other ways to gather information quickly, cheating is maybe on the rise (as the book mentioned). With the high demand for grades, many students feel they need to get these high grades at any cost. The book mentioned that many colleges have "rules" on how to handle cheating. Does NDSU have such rules? McKeachie did not give a great deal of advice related to how to handle cheating, only the basics such as following policy, not embarrassing the student, and talking to the student outside of class to maybe assess underlying issues. I feel classroom management ideas such as discussing "cheating" with the class, walking around the room, and maybe sitting in the back of the room so the instructor can "watch" the students. Collegecheating.com provides some basic tips to discourage, detect, and prevent cheating (http://collegecheating.com/). Mikaela Bjorklung and Claes-Goran Wenestam from Finland found that cheating among undergraduates is common and mainly is a problem of ethic character. The study can be found at: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00001364.htm

I also like giving different exams (same questions, but different order). I had one professor that submitted our papers to an online site to assess for plagiarism. I am somewhat surprised more professors do not do this. If I would submit papers to this site, and possible plagiarism is identified, then that would warrant a discussion with the student, and not an automatic grade reduction.