Isn’t “green grading” fantastic?

Since I started my paperless “green grading” system, using track changes in Word to grade papers, my students have – unprompted – told me over and over how much they like it. (This must really be good, as grading is a rather thankless job that, understandably, doesn’t usually lead to compliments from students.) What they don’t know is that this system is also far, far better for me for many reasons, most of them rather selfish and not at all environmental:

• The feedback I give is just plain better. I can type complete thoughts (when I’m handwriting, I resort to abbreviations and symbols which I then have to explain). I can type full sentences (when I’m handwriting, I write words or phrases). Better feedback leads to better grades on the next papers, and we all know teachers are far, far happier when they get to give legitimate good grades. (Why is it that students think we’re all sadists?)
• Students can read my comments easily. My handwriting isn’t that bad, but typing is easier to read than even the neatest handwriting.
• I can’t lose papers. Once last year, I lost a student paper and I felt absolutely terrible. I tore my apartment apart looking for that thing, and when I didn’t find it, I had to bare my disorganization to a whole lot of people.
• I can’t spill on papers. I also did that last year, and the kid definitely let out a little “hmmph” when I handed him back a paper with a big ol’ coffee ring on it.
• Papers are objectively timestamped. None of this “but Miss Wilson, I left it on your desk at 2:59! This one guy saw me do it!” business. I hate arguments like that, which always devolve into some awful form of “Miss Wilson, don’t you trust me?”
• If a student ignores the paper specs and uses a wack font or huge margins, I can recast the document in a more normal fashion. I can’t really mark off an otherwise solid paper that happens to be in 16-point Helvetica, but I’m so typographically grumpy by the time I’m done with it that I’m really tempted to knock a third of a grade off that puppy. Now I can soothe my inner font snob by putting everything in Georgia.
• If a student later asks me to write a recommendation, I have copies of all substantive work and can give reasonably precise accolades.

The only downside comes about when students come in to meet with me and discuss doing an essay rewrite. I want students to write their own comments in the margins, and that’s just not quite the same when they’re fumbling around with my keyboard and my track change system. I always print a copy of the essay when I know a student’s coming by.