- 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. And here is an Example
project 2 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 elements," one for "aesthetics,"
and one for "above and beyond."
- Notice that for project 1, the maximum number of points a project
can receive for the "required elements" is 70. And the maximum
number of points a project can receive for "aesthetics"
is 15. That means if a person does everything they are required to
do and does it well, but does not do anything "above
and beyond" what was asked, the best score they can receive is
85.
- The requirements for our projects are the minimum requirements.
They must go above and beyond what is asked in order to earn an A
on a project.
- 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 because they have a set number of points for each element.
- Mark comments for aesthetics and technical 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.
- 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.
- 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 above and beyond elements, but do not assign a
total score for that section yet. Again, mark as many comments as
you can.
- 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 total for the required elements section if you have
not already done so.
- 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 above and beyond section now.
- 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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