Yeah it’s not really something you export, so I can’t sample it ha ha. Even now that everyone’s telling me it’s still just an imaginary smell to me.

That’s so fascinating. Thanks for the specifics!

Thanks. That was not what I was expecting; for some reason I was basing my imaginary skunk smell on the smell of rotten fish.

Wow that’s quite the bioweapon!

What does it smell like?

2/3 of these animals aren’t in my country so I don’t know about the logistics but this seems really cool!

It’s a stray cat though?

I can’t imagine how, unless you only had 20 of them or something?

Back when I was a TA, I had an average of 120 students per semester and we didn’t necessarily grade our own students’ work (it was usually divided by topic).

So if I’m grading 120 assignments - or worse, 480 pieces of exam assessment- and only 25% of them are from students I regularly interact with, I don’t think my subconscious has any idea 99% of the time.

Even with smaller classes… you’re just seeing too many people with similar thoughts and styles over the course of a year for any of it to imprint on your mind that deeply. Occasionally it’s going to be obvious, but I still think removing a level of bias through anonymizing is best practice.

They both seem equally bad to me.

You don’t have to have either problem though; both can be avoided easily.

I think blind marking is important. I have literally heard people objecting to proposed grades with phrases like “but he’s a bad student” or “but she’s really bright.”

I agree with this. It’s a bit like the first 2 pancakes, you have to go back over the first half a dozen once you’re in the zone.

I used to grade hard copies a lot, after I graded I’d put them in order from best to worst (numerical grades) and then do quick comparisons between an assignment and its neighbours in the pile. It’s an easy way to “quality control”.

As for the comments, that’s a self-discipline issue. If you’re giving, say, 4 positives and 4 negatives per assignment and have standard ways of phrasing, it shouldn’t deteriorate.

As someone from neither place - I’m guessing it didn’t strike a nerve, so much as it struck a funny bone.

There’s just something ludicrous about the phrasing.