I hate marking!

[IHeartDodo]

Does anyone else feel the same way?
I've been in my (part time, teaching only) job just under 2 years, and I love the teaching and the students, don't mind preparing lectures, can just about deal with writing exams. .. But I just hate marking!!! I've been marking exams, and when a student has missed a question I've been guiltily happy that I don't have to mark it!
Am I alone here? If not does anyone have any good tips on how to make it easier?

[dinobum]

I find it depends on what it is. I generally find exams torturous as they've usually all memorised the same stuff and you only get one or two really good answers in a huge batch. Assignments are better if you can set some ones that aren't just essays.

I think with the TEF and NSS there'll be pressure to move to more objective methods of assessment though like MCTs. Markers vary quite widely sometimes and I have to wonder if students really challenged their grades e.g. Brought in external markers, whether our grading would hold up under a legal challenge.

[IHeartDodo]

What are MCTs?
Should have said that this is in the sciences, so not essays (which might be more interesting!)
We don't release the exam papers back to students, maybe that's why...

[dinobum]

Multiple choice tests

[Foureyesarebetterthantwo]

No, essays are not more interesting. I might give mine a choice of four questions, and without fail, 70% will all choose one particular question as they perceive it as easy or their friends are doing it. You are then left with 40 odd identikit essays of several thousand words, 38 of which are really dull- I practically weep with happiness when I read an original fun interesting one! The other 30% usually vary from good to has no clue at all. I find boredom the same with essays and when I've marked science type papers.

The only good thing is that slight sense of excitement when you sense you are near the end.

[MiladyThesaurus]

I'd rather mark exams than coursework (its essays or essay-type assignments either way) purely because at least the exam work is shorter and I feel no need to be spend ages deciphering the indecipherable. Working through 75 3-4000 essays is horrendous.

And I know that 25 of them will be absolute shit and I'll have spent just about as long marking them as the students who wrote them spent working on the module all semester. I'll have to pass some of them anyway. Approximately 5 might be vaguely interesting but will still be torturous because none of the students can structure 500 words adequately never mind 4000. I do loads with them on structure and the need to have some sense of argument (any sense of making any coherent point would be lovely). But it's like banging your head off a brick wall.

[MiladyThesaurus]

I have been wishing I could find a way to test my subject with multiple choice tests for years.

[IHeartDodo]

Hmm.. I've finished my huge pile of marking now so feeling slightly better :)
I've been thinking about writing online assessments actually to take away some of the coursework marking (we have the facility to do that via our VLE), so I might do that.
Normally I bribe myself with chocolate (eg half a segment of chocolate orange per paper marked!) but I stupidly gave it up for lent!
Might look at multiple choice answers - can you get them marked electronically or do you still have to do it by hand?

[MiladyThesaurus]

You can have them marked electronically. That's the appeal.

Well that and they'd test basic subject knowledge. I worry that a great number of the students on my degree programme leave just as unknowledgable as they came in (and it's not that they gained excellent information searching skills to make up for it).

[IHeartDodo]

Well if anyone's still following I've launched an online assignment!
Wrote it on our VLE and it took me a few hours including all the faff.
Hope it works! It's taken about the same amount of time to set it up as it would have to mark it, so no time saved this year, but next year it'll be great - should take 10 minutes!!