Documentation:Distance Learning Support/Grading
Grading Structure
It is essential that the grading structure is very clear to learners and that they understand how they are being evaluated in the course. The grading structure should be consistent with other courses in your department.
The grading structure should be clearly outlined on the course website. It should include (where appropriate) some consideration for the assignment of marks for online participation – with specifics regarding the kind of participation required.
How is the grading structure established?
The grading structure was likely established by the original course author in consultation with colleagues in your department. You will need to review it regularly and recommend changes for clarity and consistency. It is advisable to be consistent with the grading structure established for other courses in the department wherever possible. Some departments have department wide policies on grading structures (i.e. psychology, nursing).
Unclear guidelines for grading leads to lengthy student appeals. This can easily be avoided by thinking through the answers to a number of questions and ensuring those answers are made available to learners on the course website. For example:
- Is a passing grade on the final exam a requirement for passing the course?
- What constitutes a passing grade?
- Is this consistent with other courses in the department?
- Is this clearly specified in the course syllabus and on the website?
- How many marks are awarded for online participation in discussion forums?
- Are learners expected to post weekly?
- What constitutes an acceptable posting in a discussion forum?
- Are these expectations made clear on the course website?
Providing Feedback
Learners generally appreciate detailed comments, specifically addressing strengths and weaknesses and clearly defining why the assignment was assigned a grade of “B” as opposed to an “A” or “C” (for example). Therefore, it is important to link your comments and grade the assignments.
What is the best way to grade assignments submitted online or via email attachment?
The best way to grade assignments online or via email attachment depends, to a large extent, on personal preference. Many people provide feedback and comments via individual email to students. Others grade and provide feedback directly on the students’ work, returning the whole document to them electronically.
If you are looking for an alternative to printing off every assignment, Adobe Acrobat will allow you to mark a paper online in a similar manner to pencil and paper (using free-hand drawing tools for circling, adding notes in margin, etc.). Refer to the section called Tracking Changes for Grading, in the Resources section of this page.
Some instructors prefer to print off assignments and return them to students with handwritten comments. If this is the case, it will be important to keep copies of assignment comments for future reference or to use in discussion with a student, should you be contacted.
How are graded assignments returned to students?
For assignments submitted online or via email attachment, grades and comments should be returned electronically via email. Copies of student assignment submissions and your feedback should be downloaded to your computer and then backed up on a DVD or CD ROM for future reference as necessary. If students submit assignments within the Connect environment using the “assignment drop box” tool, you will need to follow the same procedure as above.
For assignments submitted via regular mail – you may return your comments and assignment grade electronically (provided the student has an active email address) for reasons of expedience. However, the student’s assignment should also be sent back by mail-with a copy of your comments attached.
Please note that assignments are no longer returned to students via the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology office. Instead, you are asked to mail marked assignments and comments directly back to your students. Your departmental office can also assist with that and indicate the charge back to CTLT. All relevant costs for postage are to be submitted for reimbursement to the Finance Clerk at the CTLT office.
Final Grades
Submitting Final Grades
Final grades for UBC students must be submitted by you directly via the Faculty Service Centre. A grade must be entered for all students – where a student has failed to submit any work or participate in the course, yet has not withdrawn, a percentage grade must be entered (likely 0%).
You must submit a final grade for all students in your course. Final grades should be submitted on the basis of all work submitted and graded prior to the course end date. This should be calculated as a percentage.
Sometimes, you will note that you have not received a single assignment from a particular learner and have not been able to contact him or her. In this case, send an email to the Learner Support Advisors at distance.education@ubc.ca to determine whether or not the student officially withdrew or has an academic concession (such as extension) pending. If not, then you will submit a grade of 0.
If a student has received a formal extension, you will likely have been part of the decision making process. Therefore it is a good idea to check with Enrolment Services via email (distance.education@ubc.ca) prior to issuing a grade for a student you are unsure about.
If a student wrote a final exam without submitting any course work, you are still obligated to grade the exam and submit a final mark based on this.
Grades must be submitted as quickly as possible after the final exam. Often, exams are written all over the province and it may be as long as a week after the exam, before they are returned to Enrolment Services at UBC.
You will be contacted by Enrolment Services after the exam and arrangements will be made for you to pick up the campus exams for grading. However, it is your responsibility to contact Enrolment Services at student.exams@ubc.ca if you have not been notified within one week following the exam sitting.
Graduation: For the April and October exam periods, it is critical that your grades be submitted for graduating students as soon as possible. Typically, students will indicate a “GRADE NEEDED FOR GRADUATION” on the front of their exam forms or will have contacted you about this.
It is imperative that all grades for students completing in April and October are submitted in a timely way.
Changing Final Grades
Occasionally, instructors may need to change a final grade for a student. You can do this directly from the Faculty Service Centre (FSC) using the Change of Grade form.
These instructions for how to change a grade are available to you from the Faculty Service Centre once you are logged in.
Any questions about submitting a change of grade for a distance education student can be referred to the Enrolment Services Exams Coordinator.
Resources
Online Course Quality Rubrics
There are a number of good rubrics to help you assess the quality of your course. These rubrics can help you define where your course is in relation to where you might want it to be. Your instructional designer can assist you in making adjustments and improvements to your course each time you offer it.
For your reference, here are some useful rubrics to start with:
This rubric is useful in that it offers three levels of practice: Baseline, Effective, and Exemplary – which suggests a progression and can be helpful in considering what needs to be done to move to the next level.
- Quality Matters Rubric: MarylandOnline Inc. (developed under a grant from the U.S. Dept. of Education).
The fully annotated version is available to subscribers only, however, the standards are publicly available and provide a useful guideline.
An online resource with different checklists and templates to improve the quality of your online or blended course.
Tracking Changes for Grading
There are a variety of tools that may help you grade assignments that have been submitted electronically. A few of these are:
- track changes feature in Word, Adobe Acrobat (writer version).
- Markin: an online marking tool.
Your instructional designer is also a good source of information regarding various options for grading assignments.