How do you all feel about grading classmate's work?

Nursing Students General Students

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We had to go over a review sheet and grade our neighbor's work in class recently. Right off the bat, I found it objectionable. I feel like it is the instructor's responsibility to grade our papers. Her statement was that this would facilitate her grading the work. I just don't think, for one, that my job as a student is to help the teacher out with her grading. Secondly, I don't feel the process was fair. The study guide was mostly fill in the blank type stuff and it covered topics that had many correct answers...signs and symptoms of certain imbalances and what not. The grades were posted and I've not actually gotten to look at the work yet but I received a MUCH lower score than I have in my entire several years of school. I'm thinking perhaps that some items were marked as wrong because I had an answer that was correct but simply not called out. Eh....we'll see. I'm getting off topic, kind of, but it does go to show that the instructor should be the one doing the grading, imo.

What are your thoughts?

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I have never had a class that allows us to check each others papers. I agree with you, this should be the teachers job unless there is only 1 correct answer for each question.

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Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab.

If it was open to discussion as you were grading I dont see a real issue with it. I tend to learn a lot more from that then getting a paper handed back with a red slash on it and not knowing what I did wrong.

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Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.

Other students should not have access to your grades, nor should you have access to their work without their consent. My school doesn't even allow graded papers in student mail boxes unless the grade is folded under where noone else can see it.

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Specializes in Gerontology, nursing education.

It's inappropriate to have students correct each other's test papers. It's an utter violation of student privacy and it creates an atmosphere of mistrust and competition. "Wow, did you see how poorly SuzieQ did on that test?" "Jon did so great---he must have cheated!" This is wrong on so many levels.

It's even a violation of student privacy to post grades in a public place in which anyone could have access to them. Whether those grades are posted by initials, student numbers, or even random numbers, someone can figure out to whom the scores belong and student privacy is out the door.

Is this something unique to only this one instructor or is it done (or condoned) by others in your program? It might warrant a complaint, but, if this is a practice that is entrenched in your program, it might not do you much good to complain.

I am really sorry this is happening to you. It is not right and you are definitely justified in being upset.

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Specializes in Gerontology, nursing education.
If it was open to discussion as you were grading I dont see a real issue with it. I tend to learn a lot more from that then getting a paper handed back with a red slash on it and not knowing what I did wrong.

I agree with you about getting feedback on incorrect answers. I often learn more from the questions I got wrong than I did from those I got right.

I don't agree, however, with the practice of students grading each other's tests because it is a violation of student privacy. According to Oermann and Gaberson (2009),

Test-takers have the right to expect that certain information about them will be held in confidence. Teachers, therefore, have an obligation to maintain a privacy standard regarding students' test scores. Such practices as public posting of test scores and grades should be examined in light of this privacy standard. Teachers should not post assessment results if individual students' identities can be linked with their results; for this reason, many educational programs do not allow scores to be posted with student names or identification numbers. During posttest discussions, teachers should not ask students to raise their hands to indicate if they answered an item correctly or incorrectly; this an be considered an invasion of students' privacy (Nikito & Brookhart, 2007).
(p. 336).

I need to look at the Nikito and Brookhart article but have a hunch that if raising one's hand to identify if one got a question right or wrong in a post-test discussion violates privacy, having students grade each other's test papers violates that privacy BIG TIME.

I've been in the instructor's shoes and know that nursing instructors don't always have a lot of time on their hands to read papers and grade tests. However, if the instructor can't do it because of time constraints, he/she should get a teaching assistant or a grad student in nursing education to grade the tests.

Source: Oermann, M. H., & Gaberson, K. B. (2009) Evaluation and testing in nursing education (3rd Ed.) New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company

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Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab.

I must have missed the spot where it was the students tests. I agree the test should only be graded by the teacher or GA but this sounds like it was just a study guide/review paper.

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Specializes in Utilization Management.

Did she not go back over the papers after they were "graded"? I'm fine with trading papers (with the exception of exams) as long as the teacher takes a few minutes herself to review what was marked wrong.

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Specializes in Geriatrics.

We grade our own quizzes that are given. My teacher still goes over them afterwards though. I think it is ok, but in the case that you get a low grade or you feel cheated it gets iffy because who knows what that person did when they graded it. I would talk to your teacher before or after class expressing your concern. Do not say things like "it is your job as a teacher to grade the papers" though ;)

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Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.
I don't agree, however, with the practice of students grading each other's tests because it is a violation of student privacy. According to Oermann and Gaberson (2009),

Oermann has written some of the best and most useful (practical!) texts I've been assigned. I'd read her even if it wasn't required.

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.

Our school has a strict policy on grades as well. Teachers can't even email the grade to the student, it has to be posted on the students blackboard thing and when we have test review the scantrons are placed inside the tests to hide the grade.

That said,if it wasn't against policy and if it was a multiple choice test and we graded each others and we were allowed to review that ours were marked correctly after, than I wouldn't care. We put our S-number (student ID number) on our scantrons. We can put our name too, but like in a case like this it would need to just be our student numbers for privacy reasons.

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
We grade our own quizzes that are given. My teacher still goes over them afterwards though. I think it is ok, but in the case that you get a low grade or you feel cheated it gets iffy because who knows what that person did when they graded it. I would talk to your teacher before or after class expressing your concern. Do not say things like "it is your job as a teacher to grade the papers" though ;)

You grade your own or you grade your fellow classmates? I would think grading your own can give the opportunity for cheating by changing answers.

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