Online submission, feedback and grading of assessment: what do academic staff really think?

• Published in: Research in learning technology Vol. 30; pp. 1 - 14
• Main Authors: Mayhew, Emma, Holmes, Vicki, Davies, Madeleine, Dimitriadi, Yota
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Jarfalla Association for Learning Technology 2022
• Subjects: assessment and feedback; change management; College Faculty; Data Analysis; Distance learning; Educational evaluation; Educational Practices; Educational Technology; electronic assessment management; Feedback; Feedback (Response); Foreign Countries; Grading; Higher Education; Institutional Evaluation; Institutionalization; Mixed Methods Research; online assessment; Online instruction; Online Surveys; Qualitative Research; Questionnaires; Schools; Screen time; Student Attitudes; Student Evaluation; Student Experience; Teacher Attitudes; Teaching Methods; Technology Uses in Education; University students; United Kingdom > UK; United Kingdom
• ISSN: 2156-7077; 2156-7069; 2156-7077
• DOI: 10.25304/rlt.v30.2458

The move to institution-wide adoption of online submission, feedback and grading is increasing significantly within the Higher Education sector. This transition is predominantly driven by the need to improve the student assessment experience, but some institutions now also cite the need to improve the staff assessment experience. Existing studies, however, provide seemingly contradictory evidence surrounding this online marking experience. This article adopts a mixed methods approach to explore academic staff preferences of the assessment experience within a UK-based institution following adoption of online submission, feedback and grading during 2017–2018. It finds that although the majority of colleagues prefer to mark and provide feedback online, the process of marking electronically is highly individual. Online marking is not just a single practice but a set of varied, rich approaches, influenced by individual marker perceptions, preferences and previous experiences, and is often highly emotive. Changes to existing marking practices are seen simultaneously as both challenging and liberating by cohorts of markers. Drawing on the results of a detailed staff survey, this article identifies seven themes that are influential to that experience. These findings have significant implications for how institutions manage change to large-scale adoption of online marking.