What T.A. Toolbar Does (and why, like vitamins, it's good for you and your
students.)
The default presentation of T.A. Toolbar
T.A. Toolbar is a Microsoft Word Extension that allows you to provide richer
feedback on student essays with just a click of the mouse. Wherever you
encounter classic, oft-repeated writing errors such as comma splices or pronoun
agreement problems, T.A. Toolbar can instantaneously insert a comment (in
bold, blue type), that clearly explains the problem to the student. Many of these
comments also contain hyperlinks to web pages in general use that address a
particular error in more detail.
More specifically, T.A. Toolbar has the following outstanding features:
- one-click
insertion of highly visible (and fully edit-able) comments on the most
common types of writing errors
- automatic
insertion of hyperlinks to web pages that go into more detail about
a given error and how to fix it (See Hyperlinked Comments);
- handy,
automatic formatting of original comments that visually distinguishes
them from student text (See The Custom Comment Button);
- ability
to insert your hyperlinked email address into student papers, so that
with one click students can launch an email application and follow up your
critique with their questions (See The Email Invitation Button);
- generic
(but fully edit-able) "praise" buttons; (See Methods.)
- a robust,
customizable Holistic Comment and Grade Generator, which
provides performance-level comments based on scores in five default
competency areas of the default grading scheme--thesis, organization,
development, style, and mechanics. You can create your own grading
schemes too! (See The Holistic Grader);
- A customization
tool that allows many of main buttons on T.A. Toolbar to be
customized for your particular purposes;
- The ability
to create brand new buttons for whatever purpose you determine;
- An Overuse
Warning feature that inhibits excessive use of T.A. Toolbar. (It
is, unfortunately, very easy to overuse--and thus overwhelm students--with
too many inserted comments.) (See Methods);
- Generate
usage statistics to see how your students are doing at the
assignment, student, or course level. (Note: This feature is currently
experimental and may not be fully reliable. See The Statistics Manager.)
In addition to speeding the task of grading, T.A. Toolbar can also enhance your objectivity and consistency by supplying the same information on identical types
of errors to all of your students.
While T.A. Toolbar was invented for teachers of online composition courses who
routinely receive student papers as Word attachments to emails, the tool may
also be used for those who teach composition and/or speech courses in brick-
and-mortar classrooms. Just ask your students to send you their papers as
email attachments in either MS Word or as Rich Text Format (.rtf) documents,
and you will be saving the world reams of paper. (This is an unequivocal appeal
to help save the environment, though it is probably entirely too late....)
What T.A. Toolbar Doesn't Do
T.A. Toolbar is not an automatic paper grading machine. If you had images of
yourself smugly snoozing in the hammock while T.A. Toolbar did all the work for
you, you will be disappointed. It must be used by a human professional.
