Month: August 2014
I have been marking projects online for some time now (long ones, like 1.500 words) and I must admit… it isn’t easy, although it isn’t that bad either. So, today, fellow teachers, I am going to write a post about the Do’s, the Don’ts and ”OK, this will work” of marking projects online. We do live in the technological era anyhow, don’t we? So, out with the paper and in with the lap top : S.
A bit of context:
At the moment, I am teaching English for academic purposes in the UK. One of the tasks students attending these courses have to fulfill is writing a research project.
Turnitin: This week my students used TurnitinUK and submitted the first draft of their research project. For those of you that have never used Turnitin, it is a website where you register, set an assignment and it is where your students can upload their projects (this is the ‘assignment’ you set). Once the learners have uploaded their projects, it checks them for plagiarism and gives an Originality report. In this report you can see which parts of the paper have been plagiarised and it also automatically shows you the source and the section they copied from. It also has a tab called Grademark which you can use to comment on the student’s work and give feedback. There are lots of different sections which can be used for feedback so it does allow for different types of feedback. There are tabs which let you give oral feedback (you can be all fancy and record your oral feedback). You can use comment bubbles which let you make in-text comments. There is also a general feedback area, where you can write texts. You can use different types of highlighters and you can also import generic comments if you think it is necessary (it definitely saves you time).
Reasons why it is a good idea to mark essays/projects online.
- It is good for the environment and you/your students save money on paper and… pens. You also save space in your drawers, on your shelves etc.
- It checks the plagiarism very quickly and quite effectively. There may of course be paragraphs that turnitin or any other software cannot detect but then you can double check by doing a Google check or something else.
- No one loses their project+feedback. Everything is online. Stored forever.
- It is good to use as a teaching tool during class. Why? Well, as I said earlier, if it checks for plagiarism, you can see what problems your learners have. You will see if your students have difficulty paraphrasing or if they need help with citations etc. You can then use it with them and show them what they need to work on. The same goes for other learner errors.
- You can add links to your feedback comments and your students can press the links and practice or check something immediately.
Take baby steps
- If this is the first time you are marking online, give yourself some acclimatizing time. For your first project, estimate that you will need about an hour or more to mark it. This is because the software you will be using, will be unfamiliar to you, so you will be trying to figure out how to highlight, how to use comment bubbles etc.
- Give yourself breaks after every two hours. This is good for your eyes, your back and your hands. You can really get bad backaches if you just sit in front of a pc marking for hours.
- Start with a project you think will be a good one. Choose to correct one of the stronger students first. If you start with a bad project, you will be discouraged by both the online marking and the project : (.
- Make sure you have good lighting. If you wear glasses, put them on, and if you are using a lap top, always check your battery. You do not want to be losing any of your comments (some websites save automatically though, so you won’t have to worry if the lap top runs out of battery).
- Close all other website pages. It is very easy to get distracted by a Facebook message, an email or whatever else you like checking out online. Marking projects online requires a lot of concentration, so steer clear of all other online temptations.
- Warning: do not be fooled by the fact that you probably only see the title of your students’ projects (in Turnitin for example, you see the titles, once you click the title, then you see the project). They are still very long projects and just because you cannot see the piles of paper, doesn’t mean they do not exist.
Journals in EAP
The Notebooks/journals
Get your learners to use a notebook. It is more… let’s say romantic, a reminder of the good old days when everybody used notebooks and not tablets and lap tops. On a more serious note, it is better if they have something in hard copy, something that is easy to carry around the house, put in their bag. Last year, when I worked at the University of Bristol, the notebooks were given to the students and it had the uni’s logo, which gave a fine touch to the whole journal writing process. If this is not possible in your case, your learners can choose their own notebooks and you will get to see what they choose (I do see a couple of notebooks with hello kitty on your desk : )).
What should the students write about?
On a weekly basis ask your learners to write about anything, academic and non academic . You could tell your learners to have two sections in their notebook. One section of the journal can be devoted to their everyday life, and the other section to their academic life where they document, reflect on things occurring in their student life. It wold also be a good idea to give them a minimum word limit and give them some ideas on what to write about.
Suggested topics for the everyday life section:
Write about what you did today.
Write about going to the supermarket.
Describe your room.
Write about your plans for the weekend.
Write about something interesting you saw, experienced.
Describe a building you saw .. and so on.
Suggested topics for the Academic section:
Write a paragraph about what plagiarism is.
Write about ways you can avoid plagiarising.
Write down the steps you will take to plan your project.
Paraphrase a source and write down how you did this.
Make notes of the parts of the sources you will be using in your research project … and so on.
Why two sections?
Well, students attending EAP courses are usually international students who have difficulty, not only with their academic English, but also their general English. Also, keep in mind that it is usually their first time in the UK or other English speaking countries, so they are experiencing a different educational environment as well as a new lifestyle. Writing about everyday life will enrich their everyday vocabulary, writing about their studies will boost their academic English.
Which brings me to the next question.
Why should my EAP students write in a journal?
Well, firstly, they need as much writing practice as they can get. Although academic writing is more important for them, I do find that they lack knowledge of everyday simple English which is why I suggest having two sections in their journals.Another great reason, worth mentioning, is that they can see how their writing has improved. A journal also allows them to see if they are repeating the same errors over and over (maybe next time they will be more careful when using the structure they struggle with).
When do I collect the journals and what kind of feedback do I give the learners?
I collect my students’ journals twice a month and my feedback varies. I correct some mistakes, I use an error code and I also ask questions about some of the things they write in their journals. Something like content feedback questions. So, if my student mentions, for example, that he went to the cinema, I then ask, ”What did you see?” I also use smiley faces : ) or sad faces : ( depending on what they have written. After having a look at their journals, I give them back to them and then my students can correct any errors and answer any questions I have asked them. If I see general errors occurring in most of the students’ journals, like for example, a problem with using the present perfect vs the simple past, I then include this grammar structure in my next lesson or give them links for self study tasks.
Do the learners enjoy writing in journals?
In the beginning due to the heavy workload they already have, some like the idea, others are a bit reluctant whilst a few can’t be bothered, but later on, they really get into it, especially when they see something come out of the whole journal writing process. Icing on the cake: It is interesting to see the written dialogue that develops among my students and me in regards to the content questions I ask them.
Bottom line
This can be a fun writing task for your learners. It also gives them the opportunity to reflect on some of the things they are asked to do in the EAP classroom. Sometimes writing down a plan of a project makes it less daunting, making comments about a source can help them be more organised and so on.
So….
give it a try with your EAP learners. There is nothing to lose. Worst case scenario is that they stop writing. best case scenario, some of your learners will really enjoy it and will become slightly better writers because of it.
Final thoughts….
At the moment I am in an EAP state of mind, most of my posts are related to English for academic purposes because, well, that is what I am teaching. I will soon be back with other types of wordy rambles! I hope you enjoyed this post. Let me know if you have used journals with your EAP students and how this worked for you.
Till next time……..
A pic of a rainy Sunday in the UK : ) |
Choosing your teacher
Catchy title don’t you think? Well, this was the title of a reading text I was using with my students today, so I thought it would be a good idea to talk a bit about this title, activate my learners’ schematic knowledge. So I did, and my, oh my, was I surprised!
Let me begin by giving you a bit of context though.
Context
At the moment, I am teaching English for academic purposes in the UK. The majority of my learners are post graduate students who will be moving on to a master’s degree. Their English is not at the necessary level so they are attending this EAP course. Most of these students are Chinese and this is for most of them, their first time in the UK. Today, my focus was on reading and the aim was to get the learners to make predictions about a text by reading the title. So I did.
Getting rid of the boring teacher-the title.
I asked my students, ”Look at this title. What do you think this text will be about?”
They replied, ”this text is about firing boring teachers”.
So I then asked, ”What makes a teacher boring?” and this is what I got. Some of the answers I expected, others, not so much.
Boring is a teacher:
- who is not funny and does not have a sense of humor.
- who only does things from the book/ reads everything from a book.
- who is strict (?!) not flexible.
- who does not show any facial expressions, stands still.
- who doesn’t have a lot of knowledge.
- who doesn’t tell us stories about her/his life (: O Didn’t see that one coming!).
Choosing your teacher?
I am a happy, chatty teacher, who moves around and makes jokes occasionally, but is that suitable for all my learners? Maybe not. I also run a business in my home town. I have never, till now, thought of giving the students the option of taking a class but choosing the teacher. I know of students choosing subjects cause of teachers or their friends, but choosing among teachers, teaching the same subject? I like the idea! I think it is very learner centered actually. I do not know if it is practical or realistic but it would be a good idea, don’t you think?
Final thoughts
I am really interested in your views fellow teachers so feel free to comment. Does this happen somewhere you know? Do tell : )
Till next time……..
The Newbie Online Presenter
Picture: my own : ) |
Like most teachers, I too have attended many conferences. After having attended many of them, and since I have many years of teaching experience, I thought to myself, “Maybe I should present at a conference”. I did. Face to face conferences (not sure that that is a word but I am talking about the conferences where you have to be physically present) are great for teachers/presenters because basically:
- You read up on what you will be presenting so you become even more informed.
- You meet and share your views with people who are interested in the same things as you.
- It is great for your CV.
- Reading, reading and some more reading.
- Rehearsing
- Spreading the news
- Spreading the news
- Technology
- Interacting with the audience
- My Visuals
- Recording the presentation