Category: Grading & Grading Tools

Establish and execute grading tools and approaches that suit your needs and those of your students.

Understanding Multiple Choice Test Item Analysis Report from DataLink

Reading Time: 7 minutesAs faculty members, we all strive to create fair, effective, and meaningful assessments. But once a test is administered and the results are in, we’re often left wondering: Did my test truly measure student learning as I intended? If you’ve ever opened your test item analysis report from DataLink and felt overwhelmed by the numbers, statistics, and unfamiliar terms, you’re...

Evaluating Professionalism in College Courses

Reading Time: 4 minutesThis post was collaboratively written by Nancy Nelson and Joel Beaupré, and revised by Jesslyn Wilkinson, Marcia Chaudet, Nasreen Sultana, and Ada Sharpe Background  Many college educators aspire to teach, reinforce, and assess professionalism in their courses, though they may approach this objective in different ways, using different language. The grading category of ‘professionalism’ generally relates to skills and attitudes that are transferrable, non-technical, and essential to many workplaces. Separate from marks for content knowledge, professionalism marks...

Is it Time to Refresh My Rubric? A Checklist When Your Rubric Needs a Tune-Up 

Reading Time: 3 minutesDo you have a rubric that you’ve been seeing a lot of lately? Perhaps there’s one rubric you’ve been using to grade multiple submissions this semester and noticed that it isn’t quite as smooth as you’d like.  Grading with a rubric oftentimes gives rise to observations about its limitations: you might notice, for example, that students are struggling in a...

Giving Student Feedback Using an Inquiry Approach

Reading Time: 4 minutesStudents rely on feedback – whether qualitative, quantitative, or both; from peers, from you, or both – to understand how they performed on an assessment task. Crafting quality feedback takes thought and care from the person providing it. In this post, we’ll explore strategies for providing feedback to students through an inquiry approach: non-directive and invitational, this approach positions you...

Why Using Generative Artificial Intelligence Models for Grading High-Stakes Assessments is Problematic

Reading Time: 5 minutesGenerative artificial intelligence has undoubtedly proven to be a useful tool in education, especially in supporting teachers and students in the teaching and learning process (Baidoo-Anu & Owusu Ansah, 2023). Recognizing the valuable role of GenAI in enhancing learning, many educational institutions, including Conestoga College, have started exploring ways to ensure safe, responsible and ethical use of GenAI in promoting...

Peer Feedback: Grading Tool vs. Assessment Tool  

Reading Time: 3 minutesPeer feedback is a powerful classroom assessment tool that you can leverage to support students’ learning (Patchan et al, 2015; Yu & Schunn, 2023). Particularly if your goal is to shift towards a more student-centered teaching approach. Are you interested in learning more about peer feedback? Consider reading these Faculty Learning Hub posts:  Post 1: Planning and Facilitating Effective Peer...

Leveraging Peer Feedback as a Learning Tool

Reading Time: 4 minutesPeer feedback or review refers to a process where students review and make judgements about the work of their peers (Nicole et al., 2014). During peer feedback or review activities, students have the opportunity to both give and receive feedback on work in progress. Peer feedback can be a valuable classroom assessment strategy if you are aiming to integrate more...

The Optional Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in Assessments 

Reading Time: 3 minutesAre you considering inviting students to use generative artificial intelligence (genAI) in completing an assessment in your course? Is knowledge of genAI required for workplace preparation in your industry? Do you want students to learn about the ethical and critical use of genAI platforms? This post walks you through some of the questions you will need to consider in integrating...

Using Assessment Analysis Features on eConestoga

Reading Time: 3 minutesRecent updates to eConestoga mean all course shells now include three assessment analysis features visible only to faculty. These features provide valuable data on students’ performance on course assessments across an academic semester. This post explores how you can use this data to reflect on assessment pain points and successes alike and respond accordingly to support students throughout the assessment...

Academic Integrity and Assessment in the Age of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)

Reading Time: 4 minutesA fair and accurate assessment provides evidence of a student’s learning under their own cognitive efforts. Concerns around academic integrity, however, can cast doubt on an assessment: Is this the student’s work? Is this the work a true representation of the student’s learning?  The growing and widespread availability of generative artificial intelligence (genAI) since fall 2022 has intensified questions around the...

Proctoring Technologies for Test & Exams

Reading Time: 3 minutesEffective test and exam proctoring is an important part of the work that we do as faculty to ensure integrity and create supportive spaces for students to participate in assessments. This guide will provide you with strategies and considerations for the use of technology in support of proctoring practices across the various modes of delivery at Conestoga. For courses taught...

Designing Multiple Choice Questions with EAL in Mind 

Reading Time: 4 minutesA Multiple-Choice Question (MCQ) item consists of a problem, known as the stem (written as a question or as a partial sentence that requires completion), and a list of suggested solutions, known as options. The options consist of one correct or best option, which is the answer, and incorrect or inferior options, known as distractors.   Research indicates that the linguistic structure...

Rubric Quick Guide: Levels and Point Values

Reading Time: 3 minutesThis quick guide provides directions and options related to level structure and assignment of point values for rubrics that reduce grade creep – See Updating Rubrics to Prevent Grade Inflation – and increase reliability and efficiency of marking (Chowdhury, 2018).  (Stay tuned for a series of Quick Guides to support rubric development from start to finish!) For assessment criteria that...