Essay Question Grading

Essay Question Grading

by Sarah Seger -
Number of replies: 2

Why isn't essay question grading as easy as grading assignments? It looks like I have to download each pdf file submission individually in order to read! For assignments, you have a nice viewer where you are able to see the file the student uploaded automatically and you can annotate and write comments. Why isn't grading essay questions as easy? I'm extremely irritated. I created a quiz for my calculus exam so they could upload one file for each question, since I like to grade one question at a time instead of one student at a time. Perhaps I should have created 8 different assignments! I'm just annoyed. And I guess looking for advice for how to make this easier for the next exam.

Sorry I don't know what version of Moodle I have, and I've tried to find out, and failed. 

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In reply to Sarah Seger

Re: Essay Question Grading

by Rick Jerz -
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I have a few "quizzes" like this, where students are required to upload a file. My technique is to go to the quiz, but then do "manual grading" (from the "gear" icon.) Then, I go to the question, download the file, and enter a grade for the student. This works well, but actually, whenever I can, I prefer using an "Assignment" when I expect students to upload something. With "Assignments" you can download all submittals, and a grading sheet, and be a bit more productive grading.

Hopefully, my comments will help you. Is there a good reason why you don't want to separate the "upload" question and make it be an assignment submittal? In my situation that I explained above, I am trying to make it slightly more convenient for the student knowing that I am making it a bit less convenient for me.
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In reply to Rick Jerz

Re: Essay Question Grading

by Dominique Bauer -
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Hello Sarah,

I was about to make the same recommendation that Rick made, that is, to use the "Manual grading" function.

You can annotate the student's PDF with Adobe Acrobat DC or one of the many free applications available on the Internet.

Unlike what you can do with assignments, you won't be able to save the annotated PDF in Moodle, but you can convert it to a PNG file (with Adobe Acrobat DC or one of the many applications free on the Internet) and insert the PNG file in your comment on the student's answer. It's a bit of work, but your annotations will be saved in Moodle.

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