Marking Scheme and Feedback Assistant - Help - Introduction
Assessments tab
A module is a set of assessments (assignments and exams),
each contributing a percentage of the overall module mark. Each assessment is a set of
tasks (questions, in the case of exams), each contributing
a percentage of that assessment's mark. Each task has either a set of qualitative
grades or a numerical mark.
Task percentages within an assessment should sum to 100%, and
assessment percentages within the module should also sum to 100% - the generated spreadsheet
relies on this.
Keep assessment, task and grade names reasonably concise - they appear as column headings and row
labels on the generated spreadsheet, and Excel's sheet-name limit means an assessment name over 20
characters will be truncated there. Use the description/feedback fields for anything more verbose.
Assessment list
Assessments are listed on the left; selecting one shows its name, description, contribution to the
module (%), and default individual feedback (used when no per-student feedback has been entered)
on the right.
Use the Duplicate button next to the list to copy an
existing assessment - its tasks, grades, weightings and reusable feedback - as a starting point for
a new one (e.g. a resit assessment run in parallel with the term-time one). The name is suffixed
"copy" (numbered if that name is already taken); student marks and feedback are never copied.
Tasks
Each assessment has its own list of tasks, shown below the assessment details. A task has a name,
description, its percentage contribution to the assessment, and a choice between
Grade (a named, qualitative grade set) or
Mark (a numerical maximum mark - generally used for exam
questions).
Grades
For a grade-marked task, the grades list and detail panel let you define each grade's name,
numerical mark, and the feedback text a student receives when they achieve it. The grade with the
highest mark is treated as 100% for the task.
It can be useful to define more than one grade mapping to the same mark, to offer alternative
feedback wording for different ways a student might reach that mark.
When a task's grade list is empty, a Copy from other task
button appears, letting you copy an entire set of grades (with their feedback and reusable
feedback) from another task in the marking scheme - useful when several tasks share the same
grading scale. Use this sparingly, or as a starting point to adjust afterwards.
Reusable feedback
The Show reusable feedback button on a grade opens a
popup where a library of reusable feedback statements can be built up for that grade - typically
the specific, anticipated reasons a student might receive it. During marking (see the
Results tab), any of these can be attached to a student's feedback for
that grade, and options created for one grade can be reused from another. A common approach is to
put all the 'negative' comments on the weakest grade and all the 'positive' comments on the
strongest, since options remain selectable regardless of which grade a student actually receives.
