As a new semester begins, I am excited again. Starting fresh, introducing new people to the amazing world of chemistry, and putting my newly edited labs to the test! In addition, another instructor is trying my labs. This is the first time a different person is using these labs to teach from and I am very interested to see if the teacher's instructions are clear to someone other than the author.
During my first lab, I already found some places that require editing again. This is not suprising as the document is still in the editing stages, but it does give rise to thoughts about editing in general. How long will this process take? Will these labs ever be edited enough to publish? If they are ever published, will I read the book and see new ways to edit immediately?
Duriing my first night of grading, I used the rubric for the first time. I do think it was a good first draft, the grades seem to reflect what I thought students addressed in their responses, but it too requires some tweaking. I am also learning that no matter how we mainstream in order to achieve consistency across a department there may still be room for variability in grading. What about your chemistry department? Do you seek consistency so that no matter what teacher a student has if they perform at a certain level that will be reflected similarly in their grade? If two different teachers graded the same student labs, would those student grades be the same?
I will keep you posted as I continue with my edits and gain insight from my partnering instructor!