Assessment hacks

You are spending plenty of time in front of your computer already. There is no need to be there longer than absolutely necessary. When we're grading, we often are making the same, or similar, comments to different students. Below are a few options to make that easier by storing comments you use frequently so they're easily available for re-use.

SpeedGrader Comment Library

Canvas has a built in tool for storing the comments you regularly make to students on their assignments. Each time you grade an assignment, that collection is available to be added to your feedback with one click. As a bonus, the Comment Library is shared across all your courses.

Learn how to use the Comment Library in SpeedGrader Links to an external site..

Clipboard managers

In the not-so-distant past, your computer clipboard could only hold one item. You would copy, say, Text A, and then you would copy text B. Text A would disappear from your clipboard, and the only thing you could paste would be text B. Your computer’s clipboard has gotten better, but for academics, it’s not as good as it could be. Instead, install a clipboard manager. We recommend:

Clipboard managers will save the last thousand (yep, 1000) items you copied, including images. (Okay, Ditto can save thousands; Copyless 2 will save one thousand.)

When scoring student assignments, after every comment, copy what you wrote. As you score, you may want to leave the same comment on another student’s assignment. There is no need to retype. Your copied text will be accessible from your clipboard manager.

Text expanders

A text expander allows you to create a keyboard shortcut for content you frequently write. For example, rather than always typing out your email address, you can create a keyboard shortcut, such as @h, that will automatically expand to your Highline email address wherever you need to type it. If you have a standard response to students who email you asking for an advising appointment, you can assign that paragraph (or more) of text a keyboard shortcut, such as !advising. For a text expander we recommend:

When scoring student assignments, any lengthy text that you find yourself repeatedly typing may be worthy of a keyboard shortcut. For example, if you have an assignment where students are writing about external locus of control and internal locus of control, it’s likely that your comments will also include the words external locus of control and internal locus of control. A couple keyboard shortcuts here would greatly help. Create the shortcut eloc for external locus of control and iloc for internal locus of control. The shortcut can be anything you want. It just should not be something that you would normally type.