Using Technology to Support the Grading and Distribution of Written Exam Questions for Large Classes

Because marking and returning written work on tests in high-enrollment classes is an unwieldy task, the trend is towards the exclusive use of multiple-choice questions or online quizzes with no individual feedback. Most large-enrollment classes are associated with first-year courses, where students need timely feedback to adjust to the expectations of university-level courses. However, many students do not bother to pick up their midterms once they are made available. If existing technology could be leveraged to scan hand-graded work and distribute digital copies, students could receive timely and confidential feedback in a streamlined, secure and convenient manner. This presentation will describe a solution developed for a first-year chemistry course to address the issue of timely and individual student feedback for written midterm questions in a large-enrollment class. Scantron® sheets were customized to provide space where open-ended questions could be printed onto both sides of the sheets, along with areas for graders to bubble-in individual grades for questions. After questions were hand-graded and scores bubbled-in , the sheets were scanned to read student identification and their scores on individual questions. At the same time, jpeg images were capture from both sides of the sheets. An application was developed to upload the student data and images to the course management system, where it was electronically returned to students. This solution provides instructors with a mechanism to provide more convenient feedback to students with less administrative headaches