Long grading times frustrate students
‘Some students have been waiting for over a month for a grade on their assignments’, says Marie-Cecile Hatzmann, faculty council member at the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB). ‘That’s okay, certainly now that many exams are online or in a different format altogether, but lecturers should communicate it better. They’re not doing that right now.’
Under normal circumstances, students could just drop by their lecturer’s office, says Hatzmann. ‘But if you get no response to your email, there’s nothing else left to do.’
Extended deadlines
The Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences (BSS) has been dealing with the same issue. The faculty has changed the grading deadline from ten working days to ten to twenty working days, but this isn’t always clear to students, nor to lecturers.
‘They sent us an email about it, but I can imagine that a lot of students missed that’, says faculty council member Bart Kranenborg. ‘Perhaps they should resend it. The uncertainty can cause the students extra stress.’
The law faculty is doing better in this regard, says student and faculty council member Niek Blaauw. ‘We usually get grades within ten days. But it seems like some deadlines are extended all too easily, and no one tells us. But on the whole, we’re happy with how things are going.’
Frustrations
Klaas van Veen, BSS vice dean, understands the students’ frustration. ‘Communication on this should be improved, we’ll definitely look into that.’ Van Veen suggests a dedicated web page to communicate the information and share updates. ‘I can imagine that students are getting sick of all those different emails.’
‘It’s important to communicate to students when lecturers won’t make the grading deadline’, says Manda Broekhuis, FEB vice dean. ‘I know for a fact that many lecturers do this. But if they don’t, students should be made aware of this as well. Good communication solves a lot of problems.’