Online Marking
UAL Assessment Tool
The Assessment Tool is a web-based marking system, custom built for the University, released in two phases.
Phase one, available from November 2011, allows tutors to:
- Mark formative and summative assessments against the University Marking Criteria online.
- Give students clear, accessible and fast electronic feedback.
Phase two, planned for September 2012, will allow tutors to:
- Submit their moderated grades for discussion by the Exam Board.
April 2012 Update
The Online Assessment Tool (OAT) is proving very popular as the usage statistics indicate.
As of April 2012 the Online Assessment Tool:
- is available to 86 courses
- 131 tutors have provided grading and feedback using OAT
- 3646 students have received at least 1 instance of grades and feedback via OAT published on Blackboard
It is now possible for ‘Superusers’ to export grades as a .csv file - enabling them to be opened up in a spreadsheet programme such as Excel.
Academic staff can request that their course is enabled to use the Online Assessment Tool by completing the simple online form at http://tinyurl.com/oatsetup and the ‘Assessment Tool Help’ organisation within Blackboard provides further information and short ‘How To’ screencasts. Support and training is available from CLTAD - contact John Jackson (via elearning-support@arts.ac.uk or on x 2069) to discuss further.
November 2011 Update
Invitations to test the Assessment Tool were issued to all Colleges via the Deans and Associate Deans in October 2011. Individual staff members and course teams were nominated for training and for testing the Tool. The first uses of the Assessment Tool for summative assesssment are taking place in the week beginning 28th November 2011 at LCF, and at LCC in the week beginning 5th December 2011.
For now, the Assessment Tool is being made available via Blackboard only to staff who have undertaken training. If you would like to use the Assessment Tool, please contact John Jackson in cltad, or email your request to assessment@arts.ac.uk
Will the Assessment Tool benefit students?
Students will use the Assessment Tool to access their assessment feedback and grades. There will be many benefits to students, including:
- Faster turnaround of feedback on summative assessments, allowing students to respond to feedback in their future work.
- Feedback will be accessed in one place and in a consistent format. Students will access their grades and feedback from any computer, using their UAL login.
- The facility for electronic feedback for formative assessments and project work will help tutors to give regular feedback during the course of a unit.
- Electronic feedback is easier to read and more accessible for disabled students and staff and for international students.
- The single data entry point for student marks will mean fewer errors in exam board results processing.
Marking with the Assessment Tool
The Assessment Tool is based on the UAL Marking Criteria Assessment Feedback Form and the Letter Grades of the UAL Marking Scale.
Marking against individual criteria
Tutors will give an indication of performance against each marking criterion by clicking on the relevant letter grade button. The feedback box will automatically fill with the corresponding text on the Marking Criteria Matrix. Tutors can choose to keep the standard feedback or overwrite it with specific feedback for that student. Tutors can also indicate any criteria that are not being assessed, and create bespoke criteria for their course (where validated).
General comments and overall grade
The tutor will give the student an overall grade on the UAL Marking Scale (e.g. B, B-, C+). The General Comments box at the foot of the screen is where tutors give feedback in addition to, or in place of, feedback against the individual criteria.
Releasing feedback to students
Once grading and feedback, including any moderation and confirmation processes, are complete for the whole cohort, the indicative grades and feedback can be published to students. Students will be able to access their personal feedback and indicative marks online.
Releasing marks to the student record system
The ultimate intention is that once the marking for the cohort is complete, the grades can be published to the QL student record system. This will be the second phase of the project and not available before September 2012. The grades will feed directly into the Exam Board Spreadsheet and the student’s overall result for the year is calculated automatically, taking into account failure, non-submissions, resubmissions etc. This means that the grade is recorded once at the time the feedback is documented and that duplication of entry, and potential errors, are reduced.
