Use of Graders
Schulich instructors are responsible for setting graded requirements for their courses according to the Grading & Feedback guidelines approved by Faculty Council. Instructors are also responsible for the assignment of grades. Graders or markers can be used to reduce an instructor’s grading workload only in exceptional circumstances with permission of the Associate Dean, Academic. The instructor remains the final arbiter of disputes over grading (with the student having the formal grade appeal process open if they can demonstrate grounds). Even in cases where the grading task is delegated to a grader, the responsibility for responding to disputed grades rests with the instructor.
Instructors are generally expected to grade all assessments. In exceptional cases, when the marking and grading is done by graders the assessment should either have very unambiguous expectations – that is, a limited amount of subjectivity in the assessment of the student work, OR – where greater subjective judgement is required in grading and a grader is used – a very specific grading protocol created by the instructor is to be provided to and used by the marker in evaluating student work. Assignments/projects worth more than 30% of the course grade and examinations are normally to be graded by the course instructor. In cases where assigned work of this scale is graded by graders, approval must be received from the Associate Dean, Academic (Portions of examinations for which a detailed marking regime can be provided can be marked by graders but must reviewed by the course instructor.)