Policies preventing student graders hired by math departments at California State University campuses from providing feedback and corrections on homework assignments are about to come to an end.

Since October of 2004, the United Auto Workers Union has had jurisdiction over all CSU student employees who perform “grading, tutoring or instruction,” according to a document on the CSU website.

Under the title of “student reader,” students hired to correct math assignments don’t fall under union representation so long as they grade problems as being “right” or “wrong” without giving any feedback or corrections.

Providing feedback would put them under UAW jurisdiction, automatically making them part of the union with higher pay and increased regulations.

A new agreement between the UAW and CSU systems will be announced soon allowing student graders to once again provide feedback on homework assignments, under the title of “instructional student assistant,” said Roger Leezer, chair of the mathematicsdepartment at Sacramento State.

Representatives from the UAW and the CSU Human Resources department were unavailable for comment.

The current system is a source of frustration for many professors in the math department.

“(Graders) can’t assume a teacher’s responsibility, they can’t look at a problem and assign partial credit, because it goes beyond their job description,” said professor David Zeigler, who is currently teaching calculus IIII and differential equations.

“While this is great in that we are able to get through homework quickly, I think it has been a terrible disservice to the students,” Zeigler said. “There is little to no feedback…you get it right or you get it wrong.”

“We were more or less told to have them do as little as possible,” said Leezer. “(The graders would) look at a problem and (see that) it’s worked wrong ? but for a while, we weren’t allowing them to say anything on the paper about why because that’s doing more than what they were supposed to be doing.”

“Some readers are very nice and they leave comments, but technically they’re not supposed to,” Zeigler said.

Student graders could not be found for comment because, citing privacy concerns, the math department and professors would not reveal their identities.

The sheer number of students in Sac State math classes makes it necessary for the school to hire students to help grade homework assignments.

“I run two sections of differential equations and I have 75 students,” Zeigler said. “It’s just too much.”

The math department is looking at other solutions to deal with providing adequate learning tools to students while staying within their limited budget.

One option is an online homework grading system, which provides potential benefits beyond just the money saved on student assistants.

“The system can?give immediate feedback to the students, so (they’re not) waiting for a week for the readers to give back the (corrected homework),” said math professor and Chair of the Calculus Committee Andros Domokos.

The mathematics department has a broad range of options in terms of online homework grading.

“Virtually any textbook you buy now comes from a company that has an online homework system of some sort,” Leezer said. “Then depending on the sophistication of the system, there is a reference (to) what page (in the book) to look at, or maybe a video comes on that shows someone doing (the problem).”

There is also talk of a unified online grading system, with debate over the best options.

Domokos said WebCT could be programmed to meet the needs of the mathematics department, but that it would take a lot of time and effort.

Instead, he recommends one of the systems already on the market, such as WebAssign or MyMathLab, which are able to provide limited analysis of answers to math problems and recognize the numerous equivalent responses a student could give while still being correct.

Online homework systems typically cost between $5 and $15 per student, Leezer said. Additional fees could be considered part of the price of a student textbook or an extra expense paid for by the department.

Students are generally reluctant to support an online grading system.

“No, I absolutely am against that,” said senior biology major Sasha Silvestrini. “I’ve had an online math class and I had to drop it. Math, especially something like algebra, (is) a very hands-on paper thing, so I would say no on that.”

Silvestrini would rather solve the budget issues in other ways.

“I would not be opposed to getting some feedback and actually mark what’s wrong and put down the right formula, something like that is really beneficial in my opinion,” Silvestrini said.

Some see the transition to an online system as a sure thid to paying $5 (per semester).

“I hate to say this, but it’s inevitable,” said Zeigler. “We, just like every math department in the country, (are) going to go to an online grading system.”

Even with an inferior online system, students would still have places they can go for extra assistance beyond typical in-class lectures.

“We’ve got the math lab with tutors in it all the time,” said Leezer. “There are a variety of resources around.”

Leezer said that an online grading system would help free up funds for the department, but would not prevent them from hiring student graders for the classes where they are needed, such as advanced math classes.

“There are some kinds of courses where any kind of meaningful feedback is not going to come off a multiple choice question anyway,” Leezer said.

Avi Ehrlich can be reached at [email protected].