It took a while, but certain American higher-ed factories are now outsourcing grading. In a story in this week’s Chronicle of Higher Education, we learn that Lori Whisenant, director of business law and ethics studies at the University of Houston, began outsourcing paper grading in her course on business law and ethics to a company whose employees are mostly in Asia.
Heck, why not? As the sassiest commenter responding to the article cleverly put it, “There is a certain ironic symmetry here. Many students are already buying their papers from term-paper factories located in India and other third world countries. Now we are sending those papers back there to be graded. I wonder how many people are both writing and grading student work, and whether, serendipitously, any of those people ever get the chance to grade their own writing.” The great learning loop of outcomes assessment is neatly “closed,” with education now a perfect, completed circle of meaningless words.
For argument’s sake, let’s assume that outsourcing grading saves a university money. Let’s also assume that students in Ms. Whisenant’s brobdingnagian class (she teaches 1,000 juniors and seniors each year, with only seven teaching assistants to help out) receive “excellent feedback” from the anonymous assessors who are “trained” in the use of “rubrics” (scoring guides with criteria to evaluate “performance”) for evaluating student work. And let’s assume the comments written by Bangladesh housewives (we learn in the article that they make up a lot of the workforce, and we’re assured by the grading company that Ms. Whisenant uses that they’re excellent) add up to copious, useful responses that lead to improved student writing.
At this point, I propose a simple question: Does utilitarianism win out over ethics? Are we to capitulate to the corporate desire for universities to produce “trained workers” at the cheapest possible price? Are we ready to throw in the towel on higher education, understood in the Roman sense of “bringing up” and “cultivating,” and replace it with the modern pressure to “train” people?
With outsourced grading, it’s clearer than ever that the world of rubrics behaves like that wicked southern plant called kudzu, smothering everything it touches. Certainly teaching and learning are being covered over by rubrics, which are evolving into a sort of quasi-religious educational theory controlled by priests whose heads are so stuck in playing with statistics that they forget to try to look openly at what makes students turn into real, viable, educated adults and what makes great, or even good, teachers.
Back to the particulars of Ms. Whisenant’s problem of too many students and too many essays: Writing an essay is an art, not a science. As such, people, not instruments, must take its measure, and judge it. Students have the right to know who is doing the measuring. Instead of going for outsourced grading, Ms. Whisenant should cause a ruckus over the size of her course with the administration at Houston. After all, if she can’t take an ethical stand, how can she dare to teach ethics?
According to Mr. Chandru Rajam, director of “Assurance of Learning” (What? Who makes up these program titles, anyway?) at George Washington University’s School of Business, “People need to get past thinking that grading must be done by the people who are teaching.” Sorry, Mr. Rajam, but what you should be saying is this: Teachers, including those who teach large classes and require teaching assistants and readers, need to get past thinking that they can get around grading.
19 Responses to Ethics? Let’s Outsource Them!
zagros - April 9, 2010 at 6:19 am
I do not have any sympathy for anyone who uses graders. I have routinely taught several hundred students in courses requiring meticulous attention to detail and have always graded every single examination. I simply refuse to delegate what I regard as my single most important task as a university professor: providing consistent feedback to my students. No rubric, no rules-based system, can ever substitute for having ONE individual grade everything. Furthermore, it is the sole way that I can ensure that students who behave in an unethical manner (such as copying off their neighboring students) can be effectively caught: every semester, it seems, I find identical answers on examinations in large classes and it is only because I have read EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM that I can catch these individuals in the act.The same is true for papers: students are wise to “turnitin” and will make changes that will mask the ability of computers to discern plagiarism but an effective teacher can still detect their wordsmithing IF they bother to read everything.
22228715 - April 9, 2010 at 8:36 am
Amen.
trendisnotdestiny - April 9, 2010 at 9:46 am
Teaching cannot be essentialized into just one or two tasks with the things that are most time onerous disposed of in a jumbo factory of pass the efficient buck….
11261897 - April 9, 2010 at 11:11 am
It’s telling that the outsourcing class in question is one in business law. Why should we expect otherwise?
kmessina - April 9, 2010 at 12:55 pm
I don’t have much sympathy for a faculty member who has 7 TAs, and teaches 1000 students. If my arithmetic is correct, that means that each person is responsible for grading the work of 125 students, which is less than the typcial load of a full time faculty member with no TAs or readers at a Community College.
optimysticynic - April 9, 2010 at 1:34 pm
We are developing a two-tier system of higher education (gee, kind of like our two-tier health-care system: There’s good education for those attending schools not obsessed with retention/selectivity/throughput numbers (read: mostly private and “elite”)and then there’s what is essentially high school for everyone else (lock-step, skills-oriented, customer-service-based, speed-to-degree mania, make-em-happy-focused.) At our institution, in the interest of all of these, we now give up to 40 hours worth of credit for “life experience.” This makes simply outsourcing grading look downright responsible. Those who raise questions about this direction are viewed as old-fashioned and student-unfriendly. There is also a great deal of pressure put on staff (advisors, e.g.) to be VERY GENEROUS is granting waivers from requirements, credit equivalencies, etc. We are selling our worthless degrees.
ponderthis - April 9, 2010 at 2:05 pm
?
ponderthis - April 9, 2010 at 2:07 pm
The reality is that no one model can fit in higher education. For example, (from your website) you appear to teach a course entitled “Thinking About Art” in which you probably have a half dozen or so students that discuss art, visits museums, and (let me not forget the onerous part of your course) prepare “three SHORT papers in this course (2-3 pages each),” and your open book midterm, and a final. Will that model work for math courses, accounting courses, finance courses, or even political science courses? I doubt it. Courses have to be tailored to meet the needs of the students given the constraints under which faculty work.
ponderthis - April 9, 2010 at 2:10 pm
So, why not just hire 10 new business law faculty and carve up the writing assignments to make them more manageable for each of the 10 and quite expensive faculty members? Again, back to reality, the numbers (a.k.a., dollars) will not support this because the writing component is not the primary course objective.The course that is the focus of the article is a business school course, not English composition 101, and the goal of the course is the instruction about business law and business ethics (a challenge in itself since these two subjects could easily be two separate courses). Often in business schools, courses are tagged as “writing in the discipline,” indicating that the students get more opportunities to write and get feedback on their writing (usually because the English composition 101 courses don’t do an effective job, and prospective employers ask business schools to find ways to improve the writing of business school grads). Since the course is “business law and ethics” and is taught by a lawyer (see her website), the decision to outsource the feedback for the “writing in the discipline” component of the course seems, not only prudent, but also quite effective in meeting some of the many goals of that course. The tests and other aspects of the course are not being outsourced, just the feedback for the “writing in the discipline” component.Just trying to keep it real.
ponderthis - April 9, 2010 at 2:15 pm
The original article that started this babble about outsourcing clearly states that Ms. Whisenant tried using teaching assistants (presumably for many semesters), and that the constant management, hiring, training, and resulting lack in consistency was the reason she looked for an alternative solution. Does it matter that TA’s or trained graders in India or ABD’s from the English department are providing the feedback? Of course not, you simply find the most effective system that offers consistent, fair, and valuable feedback to the students.
ponderthis - April 9, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Obviously, you do not need any teaching assistants for your “Thinking About Art” class, nor would anyone entertain the thought of using TA’s or outsourcing grading for English composition 101 courses. I also noticed that your CV suggests you do not have a Ph.D., so you would not have any expectation of contributing to the scholarship of your academy (a “review” of your CV confirms this). So, why would you ever need teaching assistants? On the other hand, when courses have a demanding teaching load (and I would call a business law combined with ethics that is also a “writing in the discipline” course delivered to hundreds of students as demanding), teaching assistants can and do improve the delivery of the course objectives.
_perplexed_ - April 9, 2010 at 4:36 pm
Regarding the “ironic symmetry” of students’ importing papers from off-shore paper mills so faculty may export them for grading…We (faculty) receive a university salary not just for teaching, but also for producing our books and articles; which we sign over to publishers who sell the product back to our university. Is this what they mean by “the wisdom of the market”?
goxewu - April 9, 2010 at 4:43 pm
ponderthis raised the same lame points in a comment on the original Chronicle article about Prof. Whisenant’s class, so here’s the same reply I posted there:”Ponder this, ponderthis:”We did indeed read the article. Carefully. That’s why the comments are, in general, so excoriating.”Here’s the howler: ‘”Our graders were great,” [Prof. Whisenhant] says, “but they were not experts in providing feedback.”‘ So, grading in the course is just a once-over and a letter-grade scrawled across the top, with no marginalia (a k a ‘feedback’). I suppose this is a slight improvement over the time honored method of throwing a pile of student papers down the stairs and giving them grades according to the step on which they land.”If the writing in the class papers in a class concerning business law and business ethics is divorced enough from the professional content of the course that somebody in a faraway boiler room, unconnected to the course or the university offering it, can give meaningful “feedback,” then the paper topics are badly assigned and fairly irrelevant to the course.”Prof. Whisenhant has 500 students per semester; she also has seven TAs. If the university would give her a couple more TAs, there’d be ten people grading 50 papers each. I know several full professors who grade the papers in classes of 35 – 40 students all by themselves; fifty isn’t that much of a jump, especially when grading papers is a main part of a TA’s job (the TAs don’t prepare lectures, write the exams, etc.) The manpower issue is another red herring. Prof. Whisenhant uses EduMetry because it’s easier and the university does it because they think it’s saving them money.”And what on earth does Prof. Whisenhant’s being a lawyer have to do with the ‘prudence’ of outsourcing papers? Her practice doesn’t leave her time to grade (or supervise TAs’ grading) of student work? Well, she or the university should choose: law practice or teaching. Or if Prof. Whisenhant is de facto part-time, the university should pony up to staff the course sufficiently. If Prof. Whisenhant, on the other hand, just happens to be an attorney who’s not practicing while she teaches, the fact that she’s a lawyer is irrelevant.”Now, to the ponderthis’s addendum, “I also noticed that your CV suggests you do not have a Ph.D., so you would not have any expectation of contributing to the scholarship of your academy (a “review” of your CV confirms this)”:1. Lots and lots of people without Ph.D.s have contributed to the scholarship of their academies, or to scholarship in general. To take an art historian for example, try Gary Schwartz, an American ex-pat who’s lived in the Netherlands for the past 40+ years and is one of the foremost Rembrandt scholars in the world.2. I went and looked at Prof. Fendrich’s C.V. on her website, and it seems that she has an M.F.A., which is the terminal degree in her field, studio art. Lots of artists with M.F.A.s (and some even without them) have written significantly on art and those writings have become the subject of subsequent scholarship by art historian Ph.D.sFinally, there’s “So, why would you ever need teaching assistants?”It seems to me that the need for teaching assistants in a given class depends on the nature of the class and the number of students in it, not the particular terminal degree held by the professor. And believe it or not, at universities where I’ve taught, some of the artists teaching in some of the art departments were actually articulate, literate, and knowledgeable enough in matters of modern art to be not only permitted but encouraged to teach non-studio courses about aspects of modern art in which students wrote papers, took exams, etc. If those classes contained enough students, TAs would be assigned to them.In sum, the answer to the question, “Does it matter that TA’s or trained graders in India or ABD’s from the English department are providing the feedback?” is obviously yes. And for obvious reasons, beginning with who “trains” the outsourced graders (certainly not Prof. Whisenant with any particularity to her course), and in what (certainly not writing specifically about business law and business ethics).
ponderthis - April 9, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Let me see, goxewu, my suggestion is that you become the poster child for the march against any form of teaching NOT done by the professor (TA’s, outsourcing grading to whomever or wherever, test banks, presentations provided by books, …). Coming from a tenured professor in a business school, you will fail miserably finding support in my college.Technology has changed our profession (sorry, at least in B-schools), so we choose to embrace it and let our students benefit.I did not see the need to spoonfeed you, but I guess I will have to. Ms. Whisenant is a lawyer, without a Ph.D., which means (at least for my part of the campus), she must be a clinical, non-tenure track faculty member. Nearly 100% of the tenured faculty at B-schools have Ph.D. in hand, because they are expected to contribute to their academy which makes them a better and more effective teacher. B-schools hire clinical to fill positions in which practical experience is important or the ability to tenure new hires is difficult (because of publication hurdles – that would need another blog to explain, so trust me on this). Business law meets both of these tests, and so, most often, we staff these positions with practitioners — and we attempt to provide them as much support as possible.But, back to your new role as the poster child, let’s assume she had a Ph.D., was tenure track or tenured, and was teaching English composition 101. THEN, you and Ms. Fendrich would have an outsourcing story — but not here, this is a lame attempt to help some agenda that does not fit in this case. I am sorry to tell you that you are (as they say) busted, so stop!Regarding Ms. Fendrich, she seems to be a very bright (but misguided person on this issue), and used to be an instructor at the University of Houston (did something happen to make you jaded?). Full transparency please. For example, she has read Gulliver’s Travels and uses words like “brobdingnagian” instead of large (we try to be more concise in B-schools). So, I reviewed her CV again, and I stick to my last statement. In my opinion, I see no scholarly contribution, nor would I expect one without the ability to perform scientific analysis. Reviews? Come on, in B-schools, we have a much higher standard.The reality (at least in B-schools), and I have been on faculty of elite private and public institutions, is that my TA’s help support by teaching and enhanced the learning experience. I choose to use them, and if you don’t want them, please send qualified TA’s my way (but we have very high standards in B-schools).Just keeping it real (again).
goxewu - April 10, 2010 at 8:18 am
“Real,” apparently, consists of avoiding (once again) the core ethical issue: The farming out of “feedback” on student papers in a business law and ethics course to people in a faraway boiler room unconnected to the course or the university. If “feedback” on papers in a course in business law and ethics can be provided by a faraway boiler room, then the papers are badly assigned. If a professor–whatever her place on the tenure track–and SEVEN TAs cannot handle “feedback” on student papers in a course of 500 students, then something’s seriously wrong with the professor and the TAs. If students pay tuition to take a course at the University of Houston only to have “feedback” on their papers come from a faraway boiler room, then something’s ethically wrong with the University. None of this ethical malfeasance can be justified by veritable ad copy like “Technology has changed our profession…so we choose to embrace it and let our students benefit.”
mbelvadi - April 10, 2010 at 9:30 am
Laurie, I think you have confused Bangladesh with Bangalore. Bangladesh is a primarily Muslim country, very poor and generally ill-educated. Bangalore India, mostly Hindu but much more diverse generally than Bangladesh, is a thriving metropolis, the heart of the high tech industry in India, with a huge workforce of university-educated men and women. This is on par with confusing Austria with Australia.I have to say that while I object to the outsourcing of the actual ABCDF grade per se, I think it’s entirely reasonable to outsource providing feedback regarding writing mechanics and allow the prof to concentrate on evaluating the student’s understanding of the discipline material. What is unreasonable is our acceptance that even as late as fourth year capstone classes, profs are still having to take a red pen to correct basic grammar in students’ work. I’m a librarian, not teaching faculty, but I just don’t understand why profs accept this kind of garbage from upper division students, but I’ve seen it for myself (often when students give me a glimpse of their papers in the context of asking my help with citation rules, which librarians get asked about a lot).
kevino1685 - April 10, 2010 at 1:39 pm
I don’t mean to bring a less academic view to the table, but I haven’t seen much commentary regarding the effectiveness of this model. While I can’t comment from direct experience regarding the quality of the grading offered by outsourced organizations, I can comment from extensive experience how pitiful my experience has been with outsourced operations.Most anyone who has called for customer support recently has ended up at a call center in a foreign country. Most amusing to me is the CSRs who answer with a heavy Indian accent but identify themselves as “Fred” or “Mary”. What is not amusing to me is the fact that more often than not the customer service experience they provide is highly unsatisfying. First of all, try to shortcut the resolution process without them taking you through their formal script. It won’t happen — many are incapable of doing anything but read the script. Others, by company policy, are not allowed to exercise any judgment whatsoever. Second, the ability for many CSRs to understand words and phrases we commonly us here is limited.If the capability of outsourced graders is anywhere as limited as outsourced CSRs I’ve experienced, then there is significant reason to be concerned with this new model.
gadget - April 11, 2010 at 12:22 pm
I notice that the TAs are referenced in terms of their labor only. I thought the courts have held that TAs are more like apprentices who are using their TA experience as a part of their education. For the course instructor, mentoring and training these TAs is part of her job. This means teaching the TAs how to apply common performance standards to others. Quality checking and monitoring of TA output is part of the supervising professor’s job. Learning to provide feedback on written work is part of a student’s graduate education and very appropriate to a business major (or a lawyer). Are these TAs being shortchanged by removal from the loop? Even as business professionals, they will discover that mentoring others is a skill they need and should have learned by being a mentee in college and by acting as a teacher of others lower on the hierarchy. Their own writing skills will also be improved by reading student work, and heaven knows, many business grad students cannot write a competent, organized grocery list.It sounds to me as though this professor is shirking large parts of her responsibility to work with her own TAs.
dank48 - April 12, 2010 at 11:23 am
We Americans have fallen in love with the idea that we can all “succeed” (whatever that may mean to us, but it’s likely to have something to do with making a living) by farming out all the difficult, uninteresting, “routine” work to people in foreign countries who are willing to work cheaper than Americans are. Mark Twain said a community can’t survive by taking in each other’s laundry. I wonder what he’d have said about a community that tries to survive by subcontracting each other’s laundry.LF is right that this is ethically contemptible. In pragmatic terms, it also doesn’t work very well. Time and again, we find out that the work is a tad more varied and a tad less routine than we thought. Dean Wormer’s one sympathetic line in “Animal House” is still worth paying attention to: “Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.” Same with lazy, dumb, and happy.