Essay Exams in Introductory Courses: Using Peer Graders
Nancy Sanders, Truman State University (formerly Northeast Missouri State)
Concerned about the difficulty of grading essay exams in a large course, but frustrated with the lack of information about students' understanding provided by objective exams, Nancy has begun experimenting with the use of peer graders for essay exams.
I started with one trusted junior level student who met me in my office after the exam, prepared a well-written answer to one of the exam questions that I then critiqued, and then began reading student exams (again, a freshman level course with about 50 students). I directed the student to find three exams that answered the question well, and three that were poor. We then critiqued these together; the student then felt prepared and competent to work through the others. We used a code of "+" and "-" signs for strong and weak parts of the answers, and question marks for confusing passages. Occasional comments were written to indicate an omission of grave consequence. We graded together for three to four hours-I could generally work through most of two questions in the time my student could finish one. Once they had read about ten exams, it became clear as to what was a "good" answer (concise but complete, thoughtful, creative, etc.) and what was a less than complete answer. I was always present to answer questions, or to read through a particularly difficult exam and offer direction.
Did the student grader benefit from this task? Yes! There is nothing like reading through many poor and mediocre exams to make one realize how important it is to have a clear understanding of the problem at hand. This past year, I expanded my student graders to two to four students per exam (depending upon my time), the number of questions per exam, and the difficulty or potential variability of the answers. I now invite the students to come to my home for an evening of grading and eating, and we work through the majority of an essay exam in one evening.
Are there problems with this approach? Some of the student graders are "better" than others. Just as faculty members tire after looking at the same question 50 times, so does a student. I periodically spot check the exams to check for consistency, accuracy, good judgment, and so forth. Occasionally (but rarely) I have had to review all the exams for a particular student-graded question. There is also the question of my students' response to peer-graded exams, which might disgruntle a few. I inform my students about peer graders before their first exam, and I maintain an open-door policy for discussion of any complaints or criticisms concerning grades. I have not yet had a single student voice concern about this method of grading. Each semester I evaluate the approach, and come up with ways of improving it. It saves me valuable time, the students get their exams back in a reasonable amount of time, and the student graders learn about a facet of biology in a unique way-from a beginning students' perspective.