Top tips for Assessment Specialists who are new to on screen marking

In this blog, I’d like to share my three top tips for Assessment Specialists who are new to the marking system. In essence the key is proactively familiarising yourself with the system, and customising it with your preferences to improve speed and usability.

From pen and paper to electronic marking

After teaching for over 30 years I was keen to try and maintain a link with my specialist subject area, Science, and decided to apply for an assessment task with OCR. Having previously only experienced hard copy “pen and paper” marking, I was a little apprehensive about how I would adapt to marking electronic papers.

I have been pleasantly surprised and with the support from RM Results and from my Team Leader, I found the process very straightforward and efficient. I really enjoy the on screen marking experience, and representing the interests of those who use the on screen marking system through my RM User Group membership.

I’d like to share my three top tips for on screen marking, drawn from my recent experiences, with those who haven’t used the system before.

1. Familiarise yourself with the marking system:

• Your username and password will be emailed to you a few weeks before marking begins. My advice is to login and familiarise yourself with the system as soon as you can. Click on all the links and get an idea for how it is all laid out.
• Be sure to try out the diagnostic test which details how compatible your computer and wi-fi are, and contact the dedicated support team if necessary. The RM Helpdesk are brilliant at sorting out queries you may have.
• Work through the training packages provided. This will introduce you to the different aspects of on screen marking.
• Sign up to the Assessment Specialist Community on Yammer. There are plenty of useful groups that share common experiences. This provides assistance and reassurance.
• Live marking is not accessible until standardisation is complete. However, you can log into familiarisation mode at any time (there is a tick box on the login page) which enables you to look around the on screen marking environment, choose an example paper, and start practice marking through crediting marks and adding annotations.
• Experiment with the toolbars and marking process with total impunity; build your confidence without affecting any live marking. I’d suggest you also check out the keyboard shortcuts available – this can save you precious time.

2. Familiarise yourself with the question paper:

• Exam question papers are available for Assessment Specialists to download and familiarise themselves with the content covered a couple of days after the exam has been sat. After this, it’s a waiting game until the mark scheme is finalised around ten days later.
• Once the mark scheme has been finalised you will receive the go ahead from your Team Leader that you can begin marking practice and standardisation papers which require approval before you can begin live marking.
• It is especially helpful to ask as many questions as you need to at this point for your marking to be as accurate as possible.

3. Customise the marking system with your preferences:

• You’ll be able to switch between marking by candidate or marking by question at any time. There are benefits to both; marking by question is beneficial for longer essay type responses, yet marking by question can increase your confidence with the content and increase your speed when marking simple response questions.
• There are also options to customise menus, including the annotations toolbar, which can improve speed and usability.

Your marking will be checked along the way to ensure you are marking to the agreed standard, but you will receive continual guidance from your Team Leader, who is invaluable in supporting you through your assessment task. If in doubt, ask your Team Leader; they’re bound to have the answer or know someone who does.

Let us know your top tips for marking on screen. OCR Assessment Specialists can share their experiences in the Assessment Specialist Community. Email assessor.communications@ocr.org.uk for an invitation.

About the author

Kathy Pearcey - Assessment Specialist

Kathy Pearcey is an Assessment Specialist for GCSE Combined Science and a member of the Cambridge Assessment RM User Group; a collaborative forum for Assessment Specialists and developers of the marking system, RM Results, to share ideas and expertise about the on screen marking system, RM Assessor.