Proceedings of the International Conference on Future of Teaching and Education
Year: 2019
DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.33422/icfte.2019.03.198
Grading more effectively: Using online assessment in EAP university composition courses
Christopher Watkin Horger
ABSTRACT:
Traditional writing assessment involved long hours of handwriting comments on student essays. These comments were intended to guide students to improve their writing. However, since many instructors wrote in cursive, there were frequent issues of legibility, and sometimes students couldn’t understand the written feedback. Plus, instructors found that much of what they wrote was repetitive, making the act of assessment long and tedious. With the advent of on-line assessment, all written feedback appears as printed text, and students are more likely to read and understand their teacher’s comments. Furthermore, teachers have the added advantage of using rubrics, which clearly state the criteria used for assessment. What’s more, teachers can use desktop notes to record the most commonly written comments, and instead of re-typing and reiterating them endlessly as feedback on student essays, they can make use of copy and paste functions to improve efficiency and reduce grading time. This presentation will discuss many of the advantages of migrating to Blackboard for improved efficiency in writing assessment.
Keywords: E-learning, Assessment, University Writing Courses.