Introduction
Have you ever found yourself saying the same thing over and over when marking students assignments? If so, then QuickMarks might be the tool for you. If you have Turnitin assignments in your module, QuickMarks gives you stock sentences and phrases. You can place these comments directly onto the students submission, allowing you to quickly mark your students work.
In this blog post, we’ll take a look at how to use them.
Step One – Set Up The Assignment
This process applies to Turnitin Assignments, not Blackboard assignments. Therefore, if you have set up Blackboard assignments, this approach will not work. However, if you have created Turnitin assignments then read on.
This guide explains more about setting up Turnitin Assignments: https://eatsupport.tees.ac.uk/staff/knowledgebase/creating-a-turnitin-assignment/
Step Two – Access The Feedback Studio
Turnitin uses a system called Feedback Studio that you can use to give feedback to students work.
This guide will explain how to access the Feedback Studio in more detail: https://eatsupport.tees.ac.uk/staff/knowledgebase/feedback-with-grademark/
In summary, in the module go to the Control Panel. Click once on Evaluation, Turnitin Assignments and then select the assignment. Now you can see all the students listed and their submissions. Clicking on their originality report score will open up the Feedback Studio.
Step Three – QuickMarks
QuickMarks are located over to the right of the page. Click the icon that looks like a blue square with a tick. The default QuickMark is called “Commonly Used”. These are comments that Turnitin think are used on a regular basis. If these suite your needs, drag these commonly used QuickMarks onto the students assignment where appropriate. This could be over some highlighted text or into a space near where you want to use the QuickMark.
There are different categories of QuickMarks. Clicking on the “Commonly Used” title will reveal a drop down list of other QuickMarks. For example, there’s a set of QuickMarks for Academic Integrity. You might find one of these groups works better for your needs.
Next Steps
QuickMarks allows you to create your own set of comments. Click the cog next to the QuickMark title to manage the quick marks. You will now be taken to a page that shows you the quick marks for the currently selected category. In the top left, clicking the three white lines will allow you to create your own set of QuickMarks. You can take this a stage further and share your QuickMarks with your colleagues. This could be a great way of making the marking consistent across multiple markers.
Conclusion
Hopefully, using QuickMarks can make your marking workflow faster and more consistent. Give it a try, and do get in touch at elearning@tees.ac.uk if you need any further assistance.
Credits
Thanks and credit for this post goes out to Carole Schubert from the School of Health and Life Sciences. Through an Assessment workshop, Carole shared the above good practices and can vouch for their effectiveness.