3rd level marking lecturers

grumpydwarf

This is an unusual question, but I thought I would ask anyway.

I study at a third level college and 70% of the people in my course group are foreign nationals and/or adult students. I'm very computer literate so many of the students ask me to check their layouts, referencing and other stuff before they send in their assignments, so I get to see what type of work they are submitting. Without wanting to sound arrogant, I'm a million times better. Most of their work is clearly 'copy-phrased' (you cut the ending of the sentence, move it to the front, then use the 'in MS Word' thesaurus to change a word or two to escape the plagiarism checker), and those sentences they type themselves are full of mistakes. However when the grades are returned, they are getting 65-70% (which seems like a generous gift) yet I am getting only 70-75%, which when I compare it to their assignments, seems very harsh. I did speak to a lecturer, and the impression I got left with is that I am being marked harder as I am seen to be more capable, while they are being marked easier as they are not as good. I naively thought when I went to college that I would be marked on my output, and not get marks taken off (or in their case, added on) for the 'sob story'. Over the last couple of years the marking has come up in conversation with other students, and many times its been commented that they feel I am being marked down.

I'm racking my brains for an explanation and I have two possible scenarios;
1) The college has a scaling system in place, whether to maintain funding or to avoid the attentions of the examination board
2) When I first started, I had some issues with one of the lecturers who wasn't up to scratch (ignored emails, didn't come to class prepared - didn't have teaching material on hand-, cancelled classes at last minute, plus other things I won't go into); I was the class rep, so had to field/forward complaints -am I being punished about it now?

My theory on number 2 is because the issues with the same lecturer happened again in year 3, and the class rep last year made complaints too, and he thinks his grading has been affected since. The lecturer has now left but he was apparently very popular with the other lecturers.

I know no matter what the reason, I won't have any proof so I will just have to 'suck it up', but I'd like to know do lecturers 'revenge mark'.

Evaleigh

I think, from my experience in the humanities anyway, that 70% is a 1:1 so if you're getting more than that then your degree can't get any better. I don't think it's common (again only my experience) for lecturers to go over 75%.

An Bradán Feasa

Evaleigh wrote: »

I think, from my experience in the humanities anyway, that 70% is a 1:1 so if you're getting more than that then your degree can't get any better. I don't think it's common (again only my experience) for lecturers to go over 75%.

Maybe, but it sounds like these other people shouldn't be getting such high marks though.

grumpydwarf

An Bradán Feasa wrote: »

Maybe, but it sounds like these other people shouldn't be getting such high marks though.

Thats what I think - that these people are being marked very lightly. If they were getting 40%, then I wouldn't be concerned about 75%. I don't know why they are marked leniently - is there scaling or ranges for marks that make sure the college gets its funding? Does the college get more funding based on graduating students churned out?

Mardy Bum

grumpydwarf wrote: »

Thats what I think - that these people are being marked very lightly. If they were getting 40%, then I wouldn't be concerned about 75%. I don't know why they are marked leniently - is there scaling or ranges for marks that make sure the college gets its funding? Does the college get more funding based on graduating students churned out?

Is it a private college?

Moody_mona

I know you're posting in the interest of fairness and transparency of this lecturer's marking, but it really isn't worth going through your degree comparing your work to others and second guessing all the time. Try to concentrate on your own work, your own degree, and achieving the grade you deserve. Best of luck!

Tordelback

Obviously a lot depends on the college and the course, but if (as it appears) it follows an Irish arts/humanities model, your classmates are scoring 2:1's and you are consistently getting Firsts. These are very different things: they are performing well at their degree (and there are certainly question marks over whether the standards being applied in colleges these days are too lax), whereas with a consistent 70%+ you are in line for scholarships, bursaries, and offers of funded post-graduate programmes. I'm not exactly sure how it works now, or what your class sizes are, but 1 or 2 (or no) Firsts per class of would have been the normal pattern.

Point being, without knowing the detail of your course, you are being recognised and rewarded for exceptional work,

grumpydwarf

Mardy Bum wrote: »

Is it a private college?

No, its an IT.

Moody_mona wrote: »

I know you're posting in the interest of fairness and transparency of this lecturer's marking, but it really isn't worth going through your degree comparing your work to others and second guessing all the time. Try to concentrate on your own work, your own degree, and achieving the grade you deserve. Best of luck!

I actually feel like I'm being bullied and/or picked on but thanks for your reply

Tordelback wrote: »

Obviously a lot depends on the college and the course, but if (as it appears) it follows an Irish arts/humanities model, your classmates are scoring 2:1's and you are consistently getting Firsts. These are very different things: they are performing well at their degree (and there are certainly question marks over whether the standards being applied in colleges these days are too lax), whereas with a consistent 70%+ you are in line for scholarships, bursaries, and offers of funded post-graduate programmes. I'm not exactly sure how it works now, or what your class sizes are, but 1 or 2 (or no) Firsts per class of would have been the normal pattern.

Point being, without knowing the detail of your course, you are being recognised and rewarded for exceptional work,

Yes, its a Humanities course, but as a part time adult student, I don't think that scholarships, bursaries, and offers of funded post-graduate programmes apply to me (happy to hear differently).

Its upsetting, and I don't think I will be going back next year. Part time study, full time job is stressful.

thanks everyone for your replies.

Mardy Bum

grumpydwarf wrote: »

Yes, its a Humanities course, but as a part time adult student, I don't think that scholarships, bursaries, and offers of funded post-graduate programmes apply to me (happy to hear differently).

Its upsetting, and I don't think I will be going back next year. Part time study, full time job is stressful.

thanks everyone for your replies.

Ok. Private colleges can give very questionable results and that's why I asked.
76 is as high as most lecturers will mark a paper, its an A+. Anything above this would have to be worth of publication. I wouldn't give up on the course. You are excelling as it is and I wouldn't worry about other people on the course.

Tom Dunne

All assignments should have a marking scheme that will clearly show what the lecturers are looking for.

If you are unhappy with your mark, you should be able to ask for the marking scheme and get feedback on where you lost marks. You should also be able to ask for a second lecturer to review the marks awarded. Of course, if that second lecturer is a buddy of the first...

Investigate what options are available to you- there should be assessment rules and regulations that document appeals processes.

evolving_doors

Although it has to be said that you are contributing to their marks by helping them with their layout and readability.
Maybe you need to have a chat about your own work with the lecturer! How to improve and all that..

Tordelback

grumpydwarf wrote: »

Its upsetting, and I don't think I will be going back next year. Part time study, full time job is stressful.

That's a pity, because if you're regularly getting 70%+ you're obviously very good at what you've chosen to study: if you were to compare yourself to a Leaving Cert-style marking scheme, you're probably getting the equivalent of 90% and over.

I completely agree with the suggestion of getting hold of the marking scheme, it may well set your mind at rest. Humanities marking often focuses on the '3rd, 2:2, 2:1, First' scheme, and lecturers (consciously or not) may well be marking with that in mind: specific percentages (which probably only run in a range from 45-75 for anything that's actually handed in) just aren't as important as getting over that critical 70% line.

By way of disclosure, I was a humanities lecturer in an IT some years back, and in my naive first year I was shocked to find an upset student in my office, wondering why she had only been given 80% for a project she had put a huge amount of work into. Shocked because it was the highest mark I had ever given (and one I think I had never myself received), head and shoulders above the rest of her year. I explained this, and she explained that in other more technical business-orientated modules she was taking she was regularly getting 90-100% so 80% looked bad.

Her point was a good one, and one that could have - should have - been ironed out by a clearly agreed marking scheme across all the modules of the course. Which I'm sure has been done since (it was a long time ago).

As a final point, when I was subsequently meeting with the same course's External Examiner, he was concerned that my final-exam marks were in general too high, as there were three 70%'s in the year (out of about 100).

Also: prize-wise, many colleges do have prizes for overall Firsts or sponsored bursaries for coming first in your class: have a look at that too. You never know.

petethebrick

grumpydwarf wrote: »

No, its an IT.


I actually feel like I'm being bullied and/or picked on but thanks for your reply

How are you being bullied or picked on??

As someone else said, lecturers never or rarely give marks over 75.

So you're getting the top grades, you can't get higher grades than this - I don't get your problem.

It sounds to me that you're just bitter because you feel others should be doing worse.