White Paper: From the Margins - What Instructors Say on Student Papers

Turnitin recently analyzed nearly 30 million marks left by instructors on student papers submitted to the service between January 2010 and May 2012. This study looks at the trends and frequency in the use of marginal-type comments, providing a view into not only the grading behavior of a large cohort of secondary and higher education instructors, but also a common standard for evaluating that behavior.

The findings raise implications for the use of marginal comments and suggest ways to better leverage online grading to enhance dialogic engagement with students and impact the effectiveness of instructor feedback.

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