I did some part time work around Tertiary Education. I was a casually employed marker. I became very worried about standards of assignments submitted by students for marking.
Background
My own tertiary studies were completed through the 1980s and 1990s. The drift in requirements for assignment presentation that have evolved from then until now are a distinct worry. Universities have the codes of assignment presentation and students are asked to be familiar with those. However it seems that conformity doesn’t really matter. Some of the things that have caused me concern as a marker are indicated.
Glaring Issues
* Many students do not cite or use compulsory course reference texts.
* Some students do not tackle the whole assignment requirement. If there are three elements, they may only complete one or two of these requirements.
* Title pages are generally not provided.
* There is often evidence in one case of material being lifted from a source but not discussed in detail or particularised as required. There is a generalised response to a specific requirement.
* Students waffle on with narrative discourse when a table or rubric would offer greater meaning and clarity to argument.
* Students tend to write on the side of brevity. When a 1,500 to 2,000 word suggestion is offered, many seem to struggle to 1,000 words.
* Some students write in a way that presumes markers can read their minds or have background on issues that should be elaborated and explained. That presumption can mean that students too are vague about issues and the strategy is one that covers the issue.
* Matters of word usage, paper layout, typing text, paragraphing techniques and double spacing of text are either untaught or forgotten skills. Papers are very hard to read.
* Casual markers are employed on a per hour basis. It is generally expected that an assignment will take around 20 or 25 minutes to read and comment upon. The way in which papers are presented and the need to offer advice about deficits makes this an impossible task.
I wanted to write about this difficulty and share it on my blog. It is a real issue and one I find quite confounding. I wonder whether I should worry about these things or am I just whistling in the wind?Posted
EDUCATION, A LIFE FORCE 
Well, I don’t reckon ‘worry’ will do much to mitigate the situation; but you are not ‘whistling in the wind,’ either.
Once upon a time (nearly 40 years ago), I was also ‘marker of tertiary papers.’ Two things from those days:
But, yes, unfortunately, I think what you are observing is a sad and irreversible trend away from true and reliable learning.
~Ed.
Very interesting post. I had occasion to help a non-traditional student with college assignments a couple years ago. Instructors have to be highly specific but students still struggle for follow instructions.
I worked with a lot of international and domestic students in the marker space. I was supposed to grade a paper in 20 minutes. That I ignored and took my time and claimed that in my work record. What I did in my own time was to develop a file of ‘observations’ and hints which I shared with all students with whom I worked. I still gave all my developed material and am happy to share with anyone who might benefit from it.
What an excellent resource for you to provide. I served as a tutor for awhile — maths, reading, standardized test prep. Keeping a list of tips and tricks is a great idea for anyone working with students.
And it is reassuring to students who may be in a position of needing that type of data to help them with understanding and confidence building.
Oh so true. I think social media has done a dastardly deed in causing so many to doubt themselves. Even I, a grammar enthusiast, has read misspellings and wrong grammar enough that sometimes i’m not sure anymore.