Rethinking grading methods (again)

Coming up for air after completing one paper-grading frenzy and before beginning the next, I encounter yet another reason to reconsider the way I grade papers. For a few years now I've been collecting drafts, suggesting changes, and grading essays electronically, but now a post over at Quackademic makes me wonder whether I need to rethink the whole process.

I know why I started commenting and grading electronically: because I can type faster than I can write and students can't read my handwriting. (Not that I blame them--half the time I can't read my own handwriting.) When I write out comments longhand, I spend a lot of time outside of class interpreting those comments for my befuddled students, explaining, for instance, that the word that looks like "vile" is actually "nice."

But maybe that's not a bad thing. As Quack points out, an important element of writing instruction is "having meaningful discussion about their writing and the writing process." Am I missing out on opportunities for face-to-face discussion when I insert comments into Word documents and send them back via e-mail?

Quackademic also raises another important question: are students reading our comments? Sometimes I'll write up extensive comments suggesting that a draft needs major revision--when a student misunderstands the assignment, doesn't know the difference between summary and analysis, is ignorant of MLA citation, or has butchered the draft so badly that not much can be salvaged--and then the student fails to read my comments until the paper is just about due. I get these frantic e-mails saying "I can't possibly do this much work on my paper before tomorrow morning!"

Of course the obvious response is, "Then you should have started last week when I sent you my suggestions." I wonder, though, whether it's easier for a student to ignore comments received electronically than those that appear hand-written in bold red ink in a paper shoved right in front of the student's face in class. Or, better yet, make students pick up their papers in person in my office and discuss their revision strategies face-to-face.

Electronic comments are just a whole lot easier--for me. But are they better for my students? Are they the best way to engage students in learning?

I don't know...and right now I don't have time to think about it because that big pile of papers isn't going to grade itself.