Update on "Fair" Grading

An update to my earlier post about grading and evaluation at Wits. Apparently, it turns out that the exams themselves must also be written way in advance on the exam date and submitted for evaluation, (another remnant of colonialism in the form of english educational practices). This part seems to have some additional practical benefits to me. I know from my own experiences as a student that it was extremely frustrating when I felt like I was being evaluated on content that wasn’t among the most important we covered in a given semester. And though I probably open myself up to charges of “teaching to the test,” I do think having the standards for evaluation set in place at the beginning of a term can aid in focusing content and class time and checking in with students to see that they’re really “getting” the stuff on which you plan to test them. Of course, there’s the whole compulsory nature of this system that I’m certain ruffles more than one feather…

A side note: my research has begun in earnest, and I’ll be posting some general thoughts and experiences over the weekend, which is a 3-day holiday in South Africa.

"Fair" Grading

Not a long essay today- just an interesting tidbit. Wits (the University of the Witwatersrand, where I'm teaching) has a policy that all courses must include final exams, which count for at least 50% of a student's grade- and that each batch of exams must be graded by the professor and then reviewed by an outside evaluator. The evaluator must be from the same discipline or field, but cannot be connected to the University. I'm interested to find out the precise history of this policy, but apparently, it was implemented as a response to complaints of unfairness in grading. This is so interesting to me, as I’m someone who believes that grades are totally subjective anyway. I’m sure it stems student complaints, if nothing else.