If you’re like most educators, you pay close attention to your colleagues. How are they reaching their students? What tools are they using? It’s the same with instructors interested in SAGrader. The first thing they want to know is: Who else is using it? Do they like it? To give you a taste of our [...]
In July, Judy Willis MD shared some very interesting insights about the neurological benefits of writing for math and science learning. It’s easy to compartmentalize learning into distinct subjects and assume arithmetic belongs in math class while writing belongs in composition class. But Willis reminds us that certain tasks — like writing — strengthen parts [...]
It would be tough to find a more dedicated, creative psychology teacher than Joe Swope. I’ve been working with Joe for a little over a year now. Every time we talk, he’s working on something new — presenting at a conference, building a new teaching tool, creating fun new learning activities, or finding a new [...]
Introductory Psychology courses are filled with interesting concepts that can be demonstrated to students using methods other than lecture and reading. Here are a few activities I’ve put together over the last few years. They work great for high school and college classes. (By guest blogger Joe Swope). #1. Understanding Depth Perception using Echo Location [...]
As mentioned in recent articles by the Chronicle of Higher Education and New Scientist, one of our newest SAGrader users is Pam Thomas at the University of Central Florida. UCF is the second largest brick-and-mortar university in the country and it’s getting larger. U.S. News & World Report lists their student-teacher ratio at 31:1 while [...]
The primary task of an instructor using SAGrader for the first time is to outline some assignment ideas. Instructors often want to know: “Will my assignments work in SAGrader?“ When it comes to assignment design, there are some things SAGrader excels at and some things it can’t handle very well. SAGrader can be used in [...]
Recently The Chronicle of Higher Education featured SAGrader in an article titled Professors Cede Grading Power to Outsiders—Even Computers. The article included some strategies college instructors are using to tackle their grading load and combat grade inflation. We’re happy for the mention and have been following the ensuing discussion closely as educators and students have [...]
As a teacher, it’s essential to effectively assess your students’ knowledge. What do they know? Where do they need to improve? In Designing Effective Instruction, Gary Morrison, Steven Ross, and Jerrold Kemp discuss the various “tests” available to evaluate different types of knowledge, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. The key is to match [...]
Instructors who stumble upon SAGrader for the first time are understandably skeptical that it can evaluate anything beyond keyword mentions. Usually, I hear something like: “Sure, I believe that SAGrader can score specific content…but I don’t just want my students to parrot the textbook back to me. I don’t see how a machine can grade [...]
One idea that we at SAGrader support wholeheartedly is the concept of iterative learning. Within our SAGrader assignments, we suggest that instructors allow students to submit multiple times. Why? For two reasons: 1) Our own research has shown that it’s a great way for students to learn the material — often resulting in a score [...]
