How to Mark Assignments and Exams

Author: Lisa Koetke (PhD Candidate, 2021)

As a TA, you will likely be expected to mark assignments and/or exams. Fairness is critical when marking. Here are some tips to ensure fair marking:

• Grade off of a rubric. If you aren’t given one, ask your supervisor for one, or make one yourself. The more specific the rubric is, the better.
• If multiple TAs are marking the same assignment, we encourage you to mark in the same room and at the same time as the other TAs so that if any questions come up, you can all be on the same page.
• If multiple TAs are marking the same assignment, randomly split the pool of students among the TAs so that the same TA isn’t marking the same students every time, if possible.
• Mark without seeing the students’ names as much as possible. If you’re marking on blackboard, select the option to hide students’ names. If you’re marking hard copies, ask students to write their name in one location on the paper, then cover the names when you start marking.
• Randomize the order in which you mark students’ assignments. If you’re marking on blackboard, they are randomized when you select the option to hide students’ names.
• Always mark when you’re in a good mood (not hungry, tired, etc.) so that your personal situation does not affect the students’ grades.
• When you’ve finished marking, go back to the first few assignments that you marked to ensure that your standards did not change throughout the stack of marking you just completed.

Students have a right to privacy when it comes to their grade. That means that no one should know any information about their grade except for them, their TA, and their professor. Here are some tips to ensure confidentiality of grades:

• As much as possible, do not bring assignments/exams off UNBC campus. If you do, please speak with your supervisor beforehand.
• Do not mark in public places such as the library, where someone might walk behind you and see what you’re marking. If you do not have access to an office, let your supervisor know, and they can provide a private room for marking.
• If marking hard copies, hand them back directly to each individual student. Hand the assignment to them with the grade facing down so that people nearby can’t see their grade.
• Do not discuss any students’ assignment, exams, or grades with anyone except that student and your supervisor.

It is likely that you will mark assignments and/or exams on Blackboard. Here are the steps to do so, along with some tips:

1. When on the Blackboard page for the class for which you are a TA, on the left side of the screen, in the dark grey margin, under “Course Management”, click on “Grade Center”. You can then click on “Needs Grading” or “Full Grade Center”.

Needs Grading: this will display the assignments/exams that have not yet been marked.

Full Grade Center: this will display all assignments/exams, as well as overall grades, for all students.

2. Under the Full Grade Center, scroll to the right until you see the assignment you are attempting to mark.
3. Next to the assignment name, click on the grey circle containing an arrow pointing down, then click on “Hide from students (on/off)”. This allows you to begin marking but students won’t see their grades until you are finished. You can tell when the assignment is hidden from students when there is a dark grey circle with a red line going through it next to the assignment’s name.
4. Again, next to the assignment name, click on the grey circle containing an arrow pointing down. You can then click on “Grade Attempts” or “Grade with User Names Hidden”.

Grade Attempts: this will display students’ assignments in alphabetical order.

Grade with User Names Hidden: this will randomize the order of students’ assignments, and will hide their identifying information. We recommend using this option.

5. When a students’ assignment is open, you can annotate it in the following ways:
   • Click on the button that looks like a paper and pen to add text boxes or write with a “pen” or “highlighter”.
   • Click on the button that looks like speech bubbles to add comments.
6. You can also write comments in the blue box on the right side (you may have to click on an arrow pointing down to expand this block).
7. Enter the number of points the student earned on that assignment in the pink box on the right side.
8. Click “Submit”, and blackboard will automatically show the next student’s assignment.
9. Once you’re finished marking, go back to the Full Grade Center and click on “Hide from students (on/off)” again to display the grades to the students.

• Under Grade Attempts, you can jump to any student’s assignment by clicking on “Jump to…” in the upper right corner.
• If students submit multiple attempts, the attempt number will be displayed in the pink box to the left of where you enter their grade.
• If the student submitted the assignment late, it will display “(LATE)” next to the attempt number in the pink box to the left of where you enter their grade. It also displays the date and time of submission of each assignment in the same pink box.
• To view the distribution of grades for one assignment, click on the grey circle containing an arrow pointing down next to the assignment name, then click on “Column Statistics”.