My coffee waits, and I keep forgetting to take a drink. It’s getting cold, but I’m distracted by the vagaries of grading systems. I’m trying to understand why a student who has turned in most of her work (and it’s mostly excellent work) has a 65%.
Testing out a hunch, I go to the screen where I initially set up the assignment. I unclick one box and click another, moving the assignment from one assessment category to another one.
Her grade jumps 20 points.
I scan the other grades. A class that had 13 students with failing grades now has 4 students with failing grades. Nothing has changed about the quality or quantity of the students’ work. The only thing that changed is which weighted assessment category I sorted the assignment into when I created it.
Grading is such a con.
And now my coffee is cold.
the dirigible plum 
Leave a Reply