UTAs often respond to small assignments in ELMS such as discussion boards, quizzes, peer review work, and other participation-based assignments. More information can be found under What can UTAs Grade?
What UTAs May Grade: The UTA Program Policy
UTAs may grade anything EXCEPT for major assignments.
Specifically, UTAs may grade all of the following:
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- Discussion board posts and responses
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- VoiceThread posts and responses
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- Participation
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- Quizzes
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- Homework tasks
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- Peer review tasks
- Other small writing assignments
Discussion boards
UTAs frequently take the lead in managing Discussions. This gives students another set of eyes on their writing, and it gives instructors more time to respond to major assignments. Responding to discussion boards also gives UTAs a chance to get to know their students better than they might otherwise, for the online environment gives all students a chance to participate equally in ways that in-person classes simply can’t.
Other Small ELMS Assignments
UTAs also grade things like quizzes, homework assignments submitted through ELMS, small writing activities, and so forth. These low-stakes, participation-based assignments are similar to discussion boards in that they often give UTAs the first look at how well (or not) students are doing with the given prompt or task. When UTAs detect gaps in understanding, they can alert their instructor to discuss how best to address student confusion, i.e., whether to respond to individual students or send an announcement to the whole class.
ELMS Feedback and Early Interventions
By keeping track of students’ work in ELMS, UTAs quickly learn which students tend to submit early and which tend to submit at the last minute (or late), which helps them get to know students better–especially those that are quieter in class. Often, UTAs are able to detect potential student problems before instructors are, which puts them in a good position to be “first responders” when students start to skip assignments or miss classes.
UTAs are particularly effective in reaching out to students who may need help or who may simply benefit from a friendly message of encouragement. When UTAs get into the habit of reaching out to all students early on, they are demonstrating that they really are available to students outside of the classroom. These “friendly UTA interventions” can be as simple as a single sentence of feedback to in SpeedGrader. The advantage here is that most of these direct comments will show up in students’ email notifications, further reinforcing the message.
Return to What UTAs Do Out of Class
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