The online process becomes burdensome and unreasonable if the teacher is unable to take a weekend off. I set limits on my availability, and offer a set of live office hours via Facebook to keep students from getting frustrated. I also make the due day a Tuesday or Wednesday to allow me to grade and return them by Friday to avoid this kind of frustration on the part of the students.
Kathryn nette - 12 years ago
This is an interesting reflection of student expectations that are totally out of line with reality. I gave a test in class one morning and then we spent the following 3 hours in lab. I was in the presence of the students the entire time. About half way through lab two students came up to me and asked if I had the tests graded yet. This was not a scantron test, but one that required significant hand grading and would probably take about 45 minutes per test to grade. But the students seemed to have absolutely no awareness of this.
From an online perspective, for short assignments I think 48 hours is a reasonable time frame. Longer assignments such as research papers are going to take a week the same as they would take to adequately grade in any class. Most instructors are dealing with 4-5 classes simultaneously! E-mail usually can be answered in 24 hours. And Monday through Friday only....the weekends are the only time I have available to do all of this grading!
Carol Stevens - 12 years ago
Response time depends on the nature of the communication. Student postings such as messages, inquiries, requests for assistance should typically receive a response within 24 hours (although no one can be 'on' constantly). Grading of assignments takes longer, especially in larger classes. Based upon the length and content of the assignment, anywhere from one to two weeks is reasonable. Students are entitled to individual feedback on their grade and this takes time - again especially in larger classes.
The online process becomes burdensome and unreasonable if the teacher is unable to take a weekend off. I set limits on my availability, and offer a set of live office hours via Facebook to keep students from getting frustrated. I also make the due day a Tuesday or Wednesday to allow me to grade and return them by Friday to avoid this kind of frustration on the part of the students.
This is an interesting reflection of student expectations that are totally out of line with reality. I gave a test in class one morning and then we spent the following 3 hours in lab. I was in the presence of the students the entire time. About half way through lab two students came up to me and asked if I had the tests graded yet. This was not a scantron test, but one that required significant hand grading and would probably take about 45 minutes per test to grade. But the students seemed to have absolutely no awareness of this.
From an online perspective, for short assignments I think 48 hours is a reasonable time frame. Longer assignments such as research papers are going to take a week the same as they would take to adequately grade in any class. Most instructors are dealing with 4-5 classes simultaneously! E-mail usually can be answered in 24 hours. And Monday through Friday only....the weekends are the only time I have available to do all of this grading!
Response time depends on the nature of the communication. Student postings such as messages, inquiries, requests for assistance should typically receive a response within 24 hours (although no one can be 'on' constantly). Grading of assignments takes longer, especially in larger classes. Based upon the length and content of the assignment, anywhere from one to two weeks is reasonable. Students are entitled to individual feedback on their grade and this takes time - again especially in larger classes.