Collecting student work and providing feedback

by Yvonne Belanger | September 25th, 2009

Many faculty continue to collect student work and provide feedback in hard copy. Faculty cited a variety of reasons for preferring physical copies of student work to electronic file exchange. In the first student focus group, students were overall more comfortable handing in assignments electronically,  but they also expressed concerns about digital submission.

Reasons cited by faculty for preferring to rely on physical exchanges of paper for gathering assignments and providing students with feedback include:


“You want a break from the screen. 80% of my work is on the computer. You might want to be grading in any number of places. I might do it at home, at a coffee shop…. I find it easier with paper because you’re dealing with 20-50 different individuals… if I had to keep track of 20-50 different files that’s actually more of a hassle.”
  • Academic integrity – concerns over copying digitized work or unauthorized collaboration, particularly in relation to problem sets
  • Added time & complexity with little added value – in cases where student work frequently includes sketches, diagrams, special characters, etc. faculty don’t necessarily want students learning tools or expending unnecessary effort to complete assignments in a digital format
  • Physical manipulation of student assignments – in cases where students submit academic writing, faculty workflows often include sorting papers into categories (e.g. papers requiring extra grading time) or distribute grading responsibility among multiple instructors & TAs
  • Preference for reading & commenting on physical copy of assignment – faculty often expressed a preference for reviewing and commenting on student work in physical format; this includes faculty who report being frequent users of electronic annotation tools (e.g. “Track Changes”) in other contexts
  • Fairness and accountability – some faculty described negative experiences in collecting work electronically, and several felt that requiring students to submit work in person, on paper was the most ‘foolproof’ way to hold students accountable

On the flip side, students have expressed frustration with electronic submission tools, saying that they don’t feel Blackboard provides a reliable way of knowing that the faculty member has received their assignment. Some report having emailed their instructor separately for a confirmation that a high-stakes assignment (such as an end of term paper) has been received on time.

Among faculty who do rely primarily on electronic exchange of student assignments and feedback, tools and features cited as useful include:

  • The ability to batch download student submissions for offline annotation and grading
  • Better organization of student submissions with the Assignment Tool versus the Dropbox
  • Embedded audio feedback tools to record and send oral comments without needing to upload audio files

Faculty routinely express a desire for better ways to annotate electronic student work submissions. Most faculty who have explored the possibilities of using Tablet PCs to provide feedback and comments have found this technology to be too cumbersome.

In at least one case, it is common practice for the department office staff and TAs to scan handwritten student exams prior to exams being returned to students. The department has found this necessary to resolve disputes over the accuracy of the grade assigned in cases where there is a question over whether the exam has been altered after being returned to the student.

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