Thursday, May 2, 2013
Grading anonymously
The folks at NewAPPS are having a worthwhile discussion of the merits of anonymous grading: its capacity to counteract the halo effect, how to deal with work that you can associate with a student anyway, etc. I've used our university's LMS for anonymous grading and found it to be a welcome reform. Do check the New APPS discussion.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I have great respect for the intentions of faculty who want to achieve fairness in evaluating their students by grading anonymously, and I acknowledge my privilege in being able to teach in one of the last remaining higher education institutions with a completely non-graded curriculum. That said, it seems to me that as a feminist who practices what she preaches, I should question the understanding of objectivity that claims a blindness to student diversity. Treating all students the same by anonymizing grading assumes that we can or ought to be blind to their starting points in entering higher education. It seems to me the more honest approach is to acknowledge the differences among our students, acknowledge our own credentialed and institutional authority, and our own biases, and practice what Sandra Harding called "strong objectivity". Instead of being blind in our evaluation, we should be honest with ourselves and others about our biases and as even-handed as possible in our treatment.
ReplyDelete