Originally Posted by Mahratta

Where'd you get that from?

Just because someone with a 'foreign' name is outsourcing to India means he / she is doing so in order to fulfill some nationalist dream, eh?

I think they would probably scan your paper and send it electronically.

Originally Posted by Rob Mac

I think they would probably scan your paper and send it electronically.

That is a lot of scanning... imagine orgo, 7 page assignments for like 500 people... That's 3500 pages o.O That's 1 assignment...

That is awesome. God damn T.A.'s are always so BIAS towards so many students. Its so unfair. If I were to hand the same exact paper, my friend would get a higher mark automatically I don't know why it happens... but it does.

I don't see what the big deal is.

Your papers are being marked by well-educated professionals experienced in properly grading and critiquing a paper, especially if they aren't focusing on a 100 at a time. They are also pre-screened for their ability to conform to the grading style of the prof, something that TAs here usually aren't.

Sure it's taking some money and jobs away from the TAs here, but those that aren't strictly marking TAs will have more time to spend helping out students.

AND the universities save money which hopefully means that the increase in tuition won't be so steep year after year!

It seems like a win-win.

Originally Posted by frozenjuice

I don't see what the big deal is.

Your papers are being marked by well-educated professionals experienced in properly grading and critiquing a paper, especially if they aren't focusing on a 100 at a time. They are also pre-screened for their ability to conform to the grading style of the prof, something that TAs here usually aren't.

Sure it's taking some money and jobs away from the TAs here, but those that aren't strictly marking TAs will have more time to spend helping out students.

AND the universities save money which hopefully means that the increase in tuition won't be so steep year after year!

It seems like a win-win.

First of all, if you think this will make tuition go down, you're dreaming.

I paid my tuition in order to be educated by people at McMaster University, not anyone else. I'd much rather be able to take my marked work to my professor or TA and talk to them about the marks (how to improve, concepts etc). You can't talk to your professor or TA about the work if they haven't read it, nevermind marked it.

It really is a stupid idea, and it flies in the face of an ideal education: small class or one-on-one education. Sending student's work across the planet to someone you can never meet is the exact opposite of that.

Originally Posted by Taunton

I paid my tuition in order to be educated by people at McMaster University, not anyone else. I'd much rather be able to take my marked work to my professor or TA and talk to them about the marks (how to improve, concepts etc). You can't talk to your professor or TA about the work if they haven't read it, nevermind marked it.

I'd imagine that you'd still be able to talk to your professor about your grade. You'd probably have to give them warning so that they can look over your paper, and then they might either agree or disagree with the original marker. It'd be like going to your professor to disagree with a mark that your TA gave you, really.

Originally Posted by Taunton

It really is a stupid idea, and it flies in the face of an ideal education: small class or one-on-one education. Sending student's work across the planet to someone you can never meet is the exact opposite of that.

It's not like Mac has a lot of small classes or one-on-one education to begin with. I've been in classes where I never met my TA, and in classes that didn't have TAs but hired markers. This really wouldn't be that different. In fact, one of my friends had a TA for anthropology that was on a field placement. So all of their assignments were sent to her for grading, which is pretty similar to this deal.

Don't get me wrong, I'd much prefer small classes and a one-on-one education, but Mac doesn't seem to care too much about that, and I've heard that class sizes are getting larger. Sure, this won't fix the problem, but it certainly seems to be the direction schools are going in.

Originally Posted by goodnews.inc

Let's outsource scanning of our Scantron sheets.
Then maybe...just maybe...some people wouldn't have to wait 6 weeks for marks.

QFT.

Good post.

this is just plain ridiculous
school is now becoming industrialized...

. . .

WTF!?

Outsourcing marking to india is environmentally unfriendly. Professors should be selecting from local producers instead of looking abroad.

Of all the things you can outsource...

Btw did you know you can outsource breakups to India?

Why can't we outsource taxes to India?

I think some posters here are overcomplicating matters.

If I wanted profs from ie. UofT, to have a say in my education, I would have gone to UofT. Likewise if I wanted an Indian guy to have a say in my education, I would've gone to school there.

I pay Mac to have access to Mac's facilities and intellectual feedbag. Even in this small way, arguably so small that it's not going to affect my academic experience, I'm not getting what I paid for. Period.