- Let's assume that you have around 40 individual projects. The number
is not that important, but 40 is a good round number to use.
- Start by printing out 40 grade sheets. You should be given a grade
sheet by the professor that contains criteria for the project submission.
Here is an Example project
1 grade sheet. Here is an Example
project 2 grade sheet. And here is an Example
project 3 grade sheet. These may not be the exact grade sheets that
you are given.
- Notice that the grade sheet has different sections. It will usually
have a section for "required features," one for "above
and beyond," one for "aesthetics," one for "coding,"
one for "sql," and one for "commenting."
- The required features are things that absolutely must be included
and functional in the project. If any one required feature is missing,
that deducts from their final grade before you even begin
grading.
- For example, for project 1, if the address book is missing from
the project, that would deduct about 15-20% off the grade before
you even begin grading the other sections. I say 15-20% because
there are really only 3 parts to this project: the address book,
the billing options, and the contact information. So if something
that large is missing, they should lose a lot of points.
- The above and beyond section is really a matter of circling anything
they have done that is "above and beyond" what I have asked
of them. You can make a note if you need to, but really it is just
a reminder to you before you assign the final project grade.
- Aesthetics and Coding will be the two places that are easiest to
deduct points from. For aesthetics you should consider navigation
issues, color schemes, and usability. The site needs to be incredibly
easy to use. For coding, if there is a page crash, that usually falls
under coding. Also, we look at indentation and how easy their code
is to read.
- SQL is more difficult to deduct points from. If they have selected
something, but forgot to select a column, or are not inserting all
of the columns, then points would be deducted here. Another thing
to look for is SELECT *. They should NOT use * unless they are actually
using all of the columns.
- Comments are usually the easiest to grade. For exceptional commenting,
give them a 10. For good commenting, but not as good as some, give
them a 9. For mediocre commenting, less than 1 line per line of code,
give them an 8. For bad commenting, it's up to you.
- You will typically make about 3 passes through the
projects:
- The first pass is just to look at each project and get an initial
impression of what grade it may deserve.
- The second pass takes the longest time because that is when you
find errors and thoroughly mark comments on the grade sheet.
- The third pass is to make any final comments on the grade sheet
and assign the project a grade.
- It is important to remember that you are grading projects,
not people. Try not to look at or think about whose project
it is. Simply think of each one objectively as a project that must be
graded.
- The First Pass ( initial impression ):
- Start with your stack of projects all in a single pile.
- Spend about 2 - 4 minutes looking at the project, getting an initial
impression, and thinking about what grade that project may deserve.
- Mark that person's name on the grade sheet and stick that grade
sheet with the project.
- Do not mark anything else at this time.
- Begin making 5 piles. One pile for A projects, one for B projects,
one for C projects, one for D projects, and one for F projects.
- As you look at each project and gain your initial impression, place
that project in the pile for the grade you think it may wind up deserving.
- Yes, you will change your mind... that is why we make 3 passes.
The first projects you looked at may have actually been better than
you initially thought... or they may be worse than you initially thought,
depending on how all the others look. Thus, a project you put in the
A pile now may actually wind up in the B or C pile after pass 2 or
pass 3. Do not worry about that now, keep making your piles.
- Continue through all of your projects until you have them all sorted
into those five piles.
- The Second Pass ( marking the grade sheet
):
- Start with the F pile and work up to the A pile.
- Why? The worse the project grade is, the more writing you must
do on the project grade sheet. If you start with the worst projects
that require the most writing, you will be happy when you get to
the A projects and do not have to write very much.
- Write down everything. If they are missing points for something,
write down the reason why.
- The more information you provide them on the grade sheet, the
fewer questions you will receive after you have handed the projects
back!
- Begin with the required elements. They are the easiest to deduct
points for.
- Mark comments for above and beyond elements.
- Mark comments for aesthetics section, but do not assign a total
score for that section yet. Again, mark as many comments as you can.
- In this section, things to look for include (but are not limited
to):
- Effective navigation
- Is the navigation ever lost on a page?
- Does the navigation ever move around (ex: from side to top)?
- Does it take too many clicks or too few clicks to find information?
- Is the site user-friendly? easy to use?
- Does it have an aesthetically pleasing color scheme? An example
of a bad color scheme might be: red letters on a blue
background. A poor color scheme can be a serious detriment to
a website.
- How original is the work? Did they think of something new and
unique? Or is it about the same as all the others? The more original
it is, the better the likelihood of it becoming a popular website.
- How creative is the work? Is there a lot of self-made imagery?
Is it apparent that they spent a lot of time designing the aesthetics?
- There are other aspects, but these are a good starting point
for you to comment on...
- Mark comments for the coding section, but do not assign a total
score for that section yet. Again, mark as many comments as you can.
- In this section, things to look for include (but are not limited
to):
- Have they created a directory structure for the site? An example
of a bad directory structure would be if they did not
have any directories. If all of their files are all in the same
folder without any organization, that is a bad directory structure.
- Mark any page crashes
- Look for proper indentation in the code.
- Is the code easy to read, or is it a jumbled mess?
- Any infinite loops that cause a page to not load?
- Again, there are other aspects, but these are a good starting
point for you to comment on...
- Mark comments for the SQL section, but do not assign a total score
for that section yet. Again, mark as many comments as you can.
- And finally, mark the section for the commenting of their code.
- Do not assign a grade.
- Now having a better impression of the project, and a pretty good
idea of what the final grade will be, place it into your "new"
piles (again, have a pile for A, B, C, D, F). Keep in mind, the new
pile you are now placing the project in may not be the same letter
grade that you initially placed it in. That is fine, it is ok to change.
- Continue through all of your projects until you have them all sorted
into those five new piles.
- The Third Pass ( assigning the grade ):
- Start with the F pile and work up to the A pile.
- Make any last comments that you may have missed in the second pass.
Hopefully you will not have to do much writing in this pass.
- Assign a point deduction total for the required elements section.
- Assign a point total for the aesthetics section now.
- Some projects will have better aesthetics, technical merit, and
usability than other projects. These projects should receive more
points than the other projects. This is why we wait until we have
made two passes through the projects before assigning a point total.
Assign a point total for the aesthetics section keeping in mind
how well this project compares to the rest as well as what
you have written in your comments.
- Assign a point total for the coding section now.
- Some project will have fewer page crashes than other projects
and overall, be better designed than others. These projects should
receive more points than the other projects. This, again, is why
we wait until we have made two passes through the projects before
assigning a point total. Assign a point total for the coding section
keeping in mind how well this project compares to the rest as
well as what you have written in your comments.
- Assign point totals for SQL and Comments if you have not already
done so.
- Assign a total score for the project.
- If the project was particularly well done, or had something about
it that deserves a "good job" comment, be sure to give those
comments as well. Positive reinforcement encourages good students
to become even better.
- Record the grades.
- Be sure to keep a copy of the grades for yourself. This is just
to cover yourself in case the grades you turn in to the professor
are ever misplaced or lost. It is always good to have a backup copy.
- Congratulations! You are finished... take a long overdue break!
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