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Anyhow, preceptors are required to staff the Help Desk one hour a week; mine is Wednesdays, noon to 1pm. Turns out it is a pretty good time to reread the chapter for 2pm Accounting class. I can count on one hand the number of students who have dropped in - let's see... one, two, yup, that would be THREE in, what, seven weeks? But a few of them have emailed me their papers, too, so I guess that counts.
The more interesting part of preceptor-ing has been helping the prof with grading. This was one of my goals - to speed him up a bit with the grading process. Last semester he was pretty slow at releasing grades on stuff we'd turned in weeks before. So far I think I've failed in that goal, but at least I've maybe helped him adjust to having two classes to grade where last semester he was teaching only one. (In his defense, he also has a full-time "real" job, plus a two-year-old son at home!)
Papers are typed using the student's choice of word processing program then uploaded electronically to a service called Turnitin.com. This service checks the paper for plagiarism against literally billions of sources, including student papers from prior and current semesters at this and many other universities. In about 5 minutes per paper, it returns an "originality score" as a percentage of the total paper. The grader can view the paper in its original form on-screen with the "plagiarized" bits highlighted and identified as to source. We can also apply comments directly to the on-screen paper to suggest grammar corrections or make other recommendations. This has forced me to relearn some grammar and basic writing rules to explain WHY the student's choice might be incorrect.
Eller College's standard Business Writing Rubric emphasizes: Critical thinking (audience, purpose, context), logic/reasoning (claim or assertion, idea unity and integrity, supporting evidence), structural coherence (internal logic, transitions, language use), information design (format, visual design, professionalism), and error interference (credibility, grammar, punctuation). The rubric is activated on the paper itself and the grader selects a high or low target for each of the five areas. The combined score is applied to the points for that assignment and the result is their grade.
Of course I'm not doing any actual grading (apparently I need a PhD for that!) but Dr. Liers will use my comments on the papers to supplement his own comments and my work will help him apply a grade. The papers I'm "grading" are business letters in final draft form which the students will then revise and resubmit as part of their "portfolio" at the end of the semester.
The business writing "Boot Camp" consists of three business letters: standard ("routine"), negative message (or "bad news"), and persuasive. Topics center on a case study; this semester it's the issue of genetically engineered salmon currently under review by the FDA. (More info: http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/PublicHealthFocus/ucm224089.htm) As a fictional intern at SeafoodSource.com, an industry news source (a real company following the hearings), the student crafts letters for signature by his or her "boss" and creates the "transmittal email" to the boss summarizing the content of their attached letter. This is something most of them will be involved in doing when they become gainfully employed in a couple of years.
While some students have surprised me with their grasp of the assignments, most of them are painfully unprepared for this style of writing. They overuse superlatives and cliches, and too often it's clear they haven't thought through the assignment at all - they've just started writing (probably at midnight before it's due). The Persuasive Letter assignment clarifies they are to pick three points for elaboration to convince the reader. If they would just DO that, it would be a lot easier to grade! Instead they regurgitate facts unrelated to their points - and then their points (if they have them) are introduced only in the summary paragraph at the end! Sigh.
The big Writing Assessment comes in early November. They will be given a couple pages of background information on an issue one day prior, which they can read and annotate in preparation for class. In class they will be handed their assignment (one of the letter styles - my guess is "negative message") and they will have about an hour to craft their letter and submit it to Turnitin.com at the end of class. Irrespective of their grade on anything else this semester, they must pass this writing assessment with 80% or higher. Failing students must enroll in an additional 2-credit lab prior to graduation.
This brings me to the second part of my preceptor duties. Next week I will shift my focus to the lab of students who failed the writing assessment in prior semesters. Typically (I've heard) these are international students struggling with English as their second language. I'm looking forward to it because they are often the more serious kids who want to learn. Recalling my own experience many eons ago as a 20-year-old in France helps give me a tiny bit of perspective. I have nothing but admiration for these kids' courage - attending college in a foreign language. As I understand it, there is no real "grade" to achieve in this lab. Once the student has completed it, they are awarded the grade they earned in the earlier semester.
Meanwhile, my other classes are going well. Learning a lot, enjoying the subjects. Met last week with my advisor for "degree check" and I'm right on target for the big day in May 2011. Woohoo!!