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 [...]

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 [...]

In a recent post, ProfHacker Mark Sample outlines one of the issues facing schools across the country: increasing class sizes. As colleges continue to face an uptick in student enrollment, many are demanding that faculty fit more students into their classrooms. This increase in enrollment can lead to problems; including issues with how the class [...]

Here at The Idea Works offices the SAGrader development team has been hard at work ensuring that SAGrader is the best program available for improving student writing. While we are constantly making improvements to our software, two recent items deserve considerable mention. Our Context engine As part of our grading engine, SAGrader examines the context [...]

As textbook costs rise, major publisher take a new approach toward an electronic format. But will students and administrators go for it? Recently, a lot of buzz has been generated about the future of textbooks. While some see the traditional textbook as an irreplaceable part of Higher Education, a growing number of people are calling [...]

I remember when cell phones first started appearing in schools. At the time I was a backpack toting student myself, struggling to define my identity in that most toxic of social environments: middle school. My family was too fiscally conservative to equip my brother and me with our own cell phones, but I distinctly remember [...]

If you teach, you know student’s have mastered the art of procrastination. Many students, however, come back from winter break determined to organize themselves for the semester ahead. Over at the ed tech blog Free Technology for Teachers, they’ve compiled a list of 15 tech tools to help students organize demands on their time across [...]

Inertia is powerful. It’s nearly impossible to drive the speed limit on the interstate when all the cars around you are going five miles over. Inertia is the resistance to change from the status quo. Inertia is why it is hard drive the speed limit. Inertia is why it is hard to buck the trend. [...]

Like many high school students, Jenna was forced to hand write assignments for her college preparatory English course. Instead of embracing the power of word processors, her instructor insisted that every draft be hand written to avoid plagiarism. Her instructor’s misunderstanding of technology led to misguided rules in an effort to decrease cheating in the [...]

Using video games in the classroom is nothing new. Like most children of the ’80s, many of my earliest memories of using a computer involve “The Oregon Trail“. Developed by a student teacher to supplement his history class, The Oregon Trail allowed students to get a glimpse of life in 19th Century America while also [...]