Marker's Black Box

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Support > Marker Collaboration Often, a batch of assignments are not marked by a single marker. A team of markers may contain two or more full-time staff and often hourly paid teaching staff. It is important that all markers mark to the same rubric. To help achieve this, Marker's Black Box does a number of things: (1) enables you to print all marking criteria and their definitions From the menu option select Tools > Display All Criteria and Their Definitions (figure 1). You can then click "Copy to Clipboard" and then paste the text into a word processor. This could then be emailed or distributed to colleagues. Figure 1 (2) enables you to email a template file to fellow markers From the menu options selecte Tools > Email Template to Colleague (figure 2). An email is created using the default email application with the files associated with the template added as attahcments. Simply click "Send". Figure 2 (3) save the marks awarded for each criterion and for every student Marks can be save in an Excel file and one that contains a list of students. By selecting the option Student Data > Record Marks for Each Criterion (figure 3) each time an item is marked the marks for each criterion are saved against that student (as well as the overall mark). This can be useful for double marking as if one of the markers is consistently marking a particular criterion much lower or higher than the rest of the marking team then it would become very clear. It is also useful to see if a marker needs more guidance on marking, for example, if they find it difficult to give a wide range of marks for a particular criterion. Figure 3 Finally, it is worth mentioning that the use of Marker's Black Box by all markers is highly likely to increase inter-marker reliability for a number of reasons. Firstly, all marking criteria are made explicit to each marker. This means that the markers are all aware of the basis for marking each item and that no criterion can be ignored during marking. Secondly, all criteria are weighted in exactly the same way for each marker. When marking without this application, one marker could give a greater weighting to certain criteria than other markers and this is undesirable. Thirdly, the final mark accurately reflects the marker's assessment and to change the mark would require some additional justification - for example implying that the marking criteria need modifying in some way. Finally, it may be the case that one or two markers would prefer to use an alternative method of marking (for example, some may not like marking in front of their desktop computer or laptop). The use of "offline marking sheets" solves this problem (see next page). Next >>

Support > Marker Collaboration

Often, a batch of assignments are not marked by a single marker. A team of markers may contain two or more full-time staff and often hourly paid teaching staff. It is important that all markers mark to the same rubric. To help achieve this, Marker's Black Box does a number of things:

(1) enables you to print all marking criteria and their definitions

From the menu option select Tools > Display All Criteria and Their Definitions (figure 1). You can then click "Copy to Clipboard" and then paste the text into a word processor. This could then be emailed or distributed to colleagues.

Figure 1

(2) enables you to email a template file to fellow markers

From the menu options selecte Tools > Email Template to Colleague (figure 2). An email is created using the default email application with the files associated with the template added as attahcments. Simply click "Send".

Figure 2

(3) save the marks awarded for each criterion and for every student

Marks can be save in an Excel file and one that contains a list of students. By selecting the option Student Data > Record Marks for Each Criterion (figure 3) each time an item is marked the marks for each criterion are saved against that student (as well as the overall mark). This can be useful for double marking as if one of the markers is consistently marking a particular criterion much lower or higher than the rest of the marking team then it would become very clear. It is also useful to see if a marker needs more guidance on marking, for example, if they find it difficult to give a wide range of marks for a particular criterion.

Figure 3

Finally, it is worth mentioning that the use of Marker's Black Box by all markers is highly likely to increase inter-marker reliability for a number of reasons. Firstly, all marking criteria are made explicit to each marker. This means that the markers are all aware of the basis for marking each item and that no criterion can be ignored during marking. Secondly, all criteria are weighted in exactly the same way for each marker. When marking without this application, one marker could give a greater weighting to certain criteria than other markers and this is undesirable. Thirdly, the final mark accurately reflects the marker's assessment and to change the mark would require some additional justification - for example implying that the marking criteria need modifying in some way. Finally, it may be the case that one or two markers would prefer to use an alternative method of marking (for example, some may not like marking in front of their desktop computer or laptop). The use of "offline marking sheets" solves this problem (see next page).

Next >>