Record a video testimonial

This page allows you to record a video testimonial (up to 3 minutes long) using your web cam. You can replay and re-record the video as many times as you want. Even after your recording is uploaded you can ask me to edit it or not use it.

How to record your testimonial

  1. click the red [Record your Video] button (you may need to click a button to start Flash)
  2. use the white cog to select the correct camera if you have more than one camera
  3. position your web cam so the camera is level with your eyes and light (from a window if possible ) is shining on your face
  4. test your microphone by speaking clearly.  If the audio is adequate a green dot will be shown next to “mic”
  5. click the white [record] button
  6. record your video then click the [stop] button)
  7. you can rerecord if you want
  8. pick a thumbnail image for the video
  9. your video will then be uploaded and processed
  10. you can replay your video and re-record it if you want
  11. once you are happy with the video testimonial, can you please send an email to  peter.evans@eMarkingAssistant.com so I can publish it to the web site

Tips to record great video

  • Use books to raise your laptop so the camera is just above eye-level
  • Place your laptop or camera in front of a window (so you are looking out the window and your video webcam recorder is facing you) for best, natural light
  • Record the video in a quiet place so as to avoid outside noises
  • Record a practice run and then replay it
  • You  can re-record the video as many times as you  want
  • Do not wear sparkly or jangly jewellery or patterned or striped shirts that can distract from what you are saying
  • Speak loudly and clearly so you can be easily understood

You can also record the video at https://ziggeo.com/h/emarking

Rubric-O-Matic 2016

eRubic template created using the rubric generator in eRubric Assistant or eMarking Assistant

Automated rubric created using the rubric generator in eRubric Assistant or eMarking Assistant

Rubric-O-Matic 2016 lets you:

  1. create reusable automated grading rubrics in Microsoft Word containing your own weighted assessment criteria (in rows) and performance standards with marks (in columns) (view the demonstration below) and then
  2. easily complete these rubrics by pressing the F6 function key to highlight the cell, rescale and record the mark. The F5 or F7 function keys will vary the mark down or up and F8 will total the marks and convert it to percentage and grade (view the demonstration below).

Because the rubrics are created in Microsoft Word you to use another piece of software. The rubrics can be used at all educational levels and with electronic, paper based assessment or other assessed tasks e.g. practical task, performances or presentations. If you are grading an electronic document you can paste the eRubric into the document and return it via email or your Learning Management System. If you are marking a paper assignment or a presentation you can print the erubric to return it.

eRubric Assistant is included in eMarking Assistant (compare versions).

Download eRubric Assistant

Download the Rubric-O-Matic 2016 document, save it to your computer and then open it in any version of Word and start saving time using the rubric generator. The document contains several example grading rubrics for marking essays and projects. These sample grading rubric templates show the use of marking scales used in American, European, and Australian educational systems.

And if you want more eMarking or eGrading tools…

In addition to free rubric generator, the eMarking Assistant package also allows you to create and use detailed reusable feedback comment banks, insert audio comments into assignments, highlight a phrase in the assignment and click a button to do a plagiarism search or to highlight easily confused phrases or words.

Completing the eRubric using Rubric-O-Matic

The following video shows completing the eRubric using the eMarking Assistant interface but the functions and function keys are the same in Rubric-O-Matic.

Creating a Rubric-O-Matic rubric

The following video shows creating a rubric using the eMarking Assistant interface but the functions and function keys are the same in eRubric Assistant.

002: Sasha Butterworth (University of Canberra College)

PeterEvansBelow is a summary of our sasha photoconversation. Feel free to add comments at the end of the full post.

00:20 Peter: Introducing Sasha Butterworth from the University of Canberra College

00:30: Sasha: Describes the role of the University of Canberra College in providing a pathway for international and domestic students to enroll in diploma level programs and then transfer to degree programs at the University of Canberra.  UCC provides a scaffolded approach in the discipline units with the addition of units in academic English.

01:30 Peter: Can you tell me about your process for marking assignments and providing feedback before you started using eMarking Assistant?

01:50: Sasha: While we have used Moodle for a number of years, the process used by individual teachers has been quite varied e.g. some ask students to submit on paper and/ or mark paper assignments.

02:55: Peter: Can you tell me how things are going now?

03:00: Sasha: Using eMarking Assistant we have flexibility and the opportunity to learn about how to better provide feedback to students. Depending on the assessment item we can select the way of providing feedback e.g. use of reusable comments and/or the eRubrics. Students and staff see tailored comments as more meaningful to their assignments and the assessment criteria.

Continue reading

Why I created eMarking Assistant?

I’ve been teaching online since last century and in 2006 I was a sessional lecturer with a particularly heavy workload with over 600 first year students in an introductory communication course with 5 small written assignments, a presentation and a 2000 word essay. I had a limited amount of time to do the required grading and marking.

Like most teachers in this position I started experimenting with different ways to provide quality, consistent feedback on assessment and keep my workload to a manageable level. I used a variety of systems including macros that inserted full comments when a code it typed, Word comments, tracked changes and autotext, Excel based rubrics and even some web based grading systems. Over several semesters created and refined the eMarking Assistant add-in for Word. If I am honest, there may have been a lottle element of grading procrastination as I enjoy programming much more than looking at the 500th version of the same assignment!

The current version of eMarking Assistant allows you to:

  • create and use of detailed reusable comments that can be picked from a floating toolbar
  • create and use automated rubrics which rescale, total and convert the mark to a percentage and grade and
  • use some other grading tools e.g. highlight a misused or overused word or phrase throughout the assignment or google a phrase from within Word.

I quickly realised that students appreciated the more detailed, timely and consistent feedback that I could provide. Soon my colleagues started asking if they could use eMarking Assistant and in 2009 I started selling eMarking Assistant.  You can view the history of versions or suggest an enhancement.

You can download a 30 day trial of eMarking Assistant or subscribe to an electronic marking and grading mini-course.

Apply for a free 12 month trial for your university, college, or school

We can now provide a free 12 month risk free trial of eMarking Assistant or Automated Analytic Rubrics to universities, colleges, schools or other organisations. To apply for the trial you should arrange for a person with responsibilities in one of the following areas (teaching and learning, quality, or educational technology) to send an email to info@eMarkingAssistant.com providing the following information:

  • your name:
  • your position:
  • your phone number:
  • your email address:
  • the name of your organisation:
  • approximate number of staff in your organisation who grade or mark student work:

We will then contact you to discuss how to best use the trial to achieve your goals. We will establish a web page (e.g. trial page for The University of Canberra) which will provide your staff with instructions to download and install a version of eMarking Assistant which will automatically activate when installed on a computer attached to your network (e.g. canberra.edu.au). If needed, other information can added to this page e.g. institutional contacts or institutional rubrics or comment banks.

A free one hour online training sessions can also be provided if required (additional sessions are available at $100 per hour for up to 20 participants) but most institutions have found that the online training videos, email, Skype, or online chat and screen sharing is adequate to support most users.

We will work with you throughout the trial to best ensure that your goals are achieved.

Instructions for markers to start using eMarking Assistant

Below are instructions which can be modified and used when training markers and graders when starting to use eMarking Assistant. These instructions are provided and the URLs are shown in full so they can be easily copied, edited and reused.

The eMarking Assistant install includes a comment bank with academic writing and APA comments and several rubrics. However, experience has shown that markers will immediately see the value of eMarking Assistant if you have prepared a bank of sample comments or a sample marking rubric.

Introduction

This year we suggest you mark the assignments using the eMarking Assistant electronic marking tool (requires Microsoft Office for Windows). You can download eMarking Assistant from download page at http://emarkingassistant.com/download/emarking-assistant/ or your institution’s page may have a site license showing more specific information e.g. http://emarkingassistant.com/sites/uc/

eMarking Assistant integrates into any version of Microsoft Word for Windows so you do not need to learn to use a new package and you can continue to use tools you are familiar with e.g. track changes or spelling checker. eMarking is like any skill that becomes easier and quicker with familiarity. A survey of 7 markers showed:

  • Compared to paper marking 3 said it was “a little faster”, 3  “twice as fast” and 1 “more than twice as fast
  • 6 out of 7 said that creating and using reusable comments were either “useful or “very useful”
  • 7 out of 7 said the automated rubrics were “very useful
  • Would you use eMarking Assistant in future: 3perhaps”, 2 yes”, and 3 “definitely yes
  • most people said that after within less than an hour they were familiar with eMarking Assistant and where working more productively than before

We have arranged a staff training and Question and Answer session on <date> at <time> in <room>.  The session will be most use to you if you have downloaded and installed eMarking Assistant and also used it to experiment with ways of marking or used the guided tour at the start of the eMarking Assistant document. Feel free to view the demonstration videos on the eMarking Assistant site or contact Peter Evans using any of the methods listed on http://emarkingassistant.com/emarking-assistant-home/contact-emarking-assistant/ including online chat or 0407 742851.

We hope to see you at the training and Q & A session.

Below are suggestions for how you can most quickly start using eMarking Assistant. These instructions refer to pages in the http://eMarkingAssistant.com site and in the eMarking Assistant document which you can download from http://emarkingassistant.com/download/emarking-assistant/

1. Install eMarking Assistant on your Windows computer (see video at http://emarkingassistant.com/demo-videos/downloading-installing-the-30-day-trial/).

2. Have a quick play around with the eMarking Assistant toolbar by opening a Word document and doing the following (the toolbar is shown on page 2 of the eMarking Assistant document):

  • show the eMarking Assistant toolbar by pressing ALT/F8 anytime Microsoft Word is open (if the toolbar is not shown you have not installed eMarking Assistant and you might want to view the online FAQ at http://emarkingassistant.com/faq/
  • click the ?/Install tab to open the show options for getting help or license ID. Clicking the Install, Comp. ID … button will show your license information
  • click the Setup tab to show common options you may use before starting to mark assignments e.g. displaying possible spelling errors or grammar errors, or paragraph marks, using a larger font in comments, or turning on track changes
  • clicking a comment name in the field near the top of the toolbar to see the text of the comment in the field at the bottom of the toolbar
  • clicking in the field of comment names and pressing the down arrow will select the next comment
  • clicking in the field of comment names and starting to type a comment name will select the comment name that starts with that text
  • click the green arrow at the bottom right to move it from a portrait to a landscape orientation depending on your work habits

3. Experiment with an automated grading eRubric by opening the eMarking Assistant document and scrolling to page vi and following the instructions.

You could also insert a rubric into your own document by:

4. Experiment with the reusable comments by opening the eMarking Assistant document and scrolling to page ii and doing the following:

  • insert a reusable comment into either the margin of the word document by highlighting a phrase in the document, highlighting the name of the comment you want to insert, then clicking the Margin button (see video at http://emarkingassistant.com/demo-videos/inserting-reusable-comments-into-paper-or-assignment/).
  • insert a reusable comment in the body of the assignment by highlighting the comment name and clicking the Text button
  • you can also modify the reusable comments or create and save your own for reuse in future

5. Experiment with some of the other features of eMarking Assistant e.g.

  • Googling a word or phrase in the assignment (page v in the eMarking Assistant document)
  • Highlighting words or phrases throughout the assignment (page v in the eMarking Assistant document)

6. If the course convenor has supplied you with a comment bank containing comments and rubrics for you to use, you can now import these comments into the eMarking Assistant toolbar by doing the following (see video at http://emarkingassistant.com/demo-videos/sharing-comment-banks-by-importing-and-exporting/):

  1. show the eMarking Assistant toolbar by opening Word and pressing ALT/F8
  2. click the Setup tab near the bottom of the toolbar
  3. use the Manage comment banks drop down menu and select Delete all comments to delete
  4. use the Manage comment banks drop down menu and select Import comment bank then browse to the comment bank document that your course convenor sent to you.
  5. click Import to start importing the comment bank
  6. some comment banks contain a code that makes it easier to select the comment. Generally you will click No unless your course convenor has told you to include the code
  7. generally you will want to list the comments alphabetically

You may find it easiest to become familar with the comments in the reusable comment bank by opening the Word document containing them and printing them out (the default comments are included in the table at the end of the eMarking Assistant document).

You should now be reasonably familiar with most aspects of the eMarking Assistant software. Of course the more you use it the more familiar it will become.

1. Bulk download your assignments from Moodle to your computer

(see video at http://emarkingassistant.com/demo-videos/moodle-emarking-egrading-workflow/downloading-all-assignments-from-moodle/)

  • open the course in Moodle
  • click the assignment activity in Moodle to go the assignment page
  • click view/grade all submissions at the bottom of the page to view the grid layout showing one line for each student in the course
  • if the course is setup in groups, you can select your group name to display only your students
  • use the Grading action menu and select: Bulk download the assignments to download a single zip file to your computer containing all assignments
  • use the Grading action menu and select: Download the grading work sheet to download a a CSV file (which you can open in Excel) your computer

Unzip the file containing the downloaded assignments. The files are stored with the student name and an ID added to the start of the file name used by the student. Comments are not downloaded so it is best not to enable Allow Comments when setting up the Moodle Assignment activity.

Open the grading worksheet to see a row for each students and columns showing the student name and identifier. You will enter the mark or grade into the column titled grade and you can enter a short comment into the column titled feedback.

2. Mark the assignments using eMarking Assistant

If the assignment is a traditional report written in Word you can mark it in the following way. If it is an offline assignment (e.g. a class presentation or a video or model) or if is has been submitted in a format which Word can’t edit (e.g. a PDF file or a PowerPoint or a computer program) you can do many of these things listed below after reading the paragraph at the end of this section.

  • open the assignment or the assignment cover sheet if the assignment is an offline assignment
  • open the eMarking Assistant toolbar (ALT/F8)
  • insert the rubric into the end of the assignment or into a feedback document if the assignment is an offline assignment
  • read the assignment and insert reusable comments
  • complete the rubric by making judgments by selecting a cell in the rubric and pressing F6, You can use F5 or F7 to vary it up or down
  • you can insert the last rubric assessment into the margin of the assignment by highlighting a section of the assignment and pressing F6
  • click in the rubric and press F8 to total the marks and convert it to a grade
  • if you want you can delete the marks from the rubric by highlighting the relevant cells and pressing the Delete key

If the assignment is an offline work (e.g. a class presentation) or a video or a PDF document  or another type of document you can still use many of the features of eMarking Assistant by entering the comments and the rubric at the end of the assignment cover sheet or by entering them into a feedback document. If you create a feedback document is must use the same start of the filename followed by something like “feedback” to ensure that the document is returned to the correct student e.g. Alan Turing_9319_assignsubmission_file_TURING_alan_A2(feedback).docx

  • Comment on specific parts of the assignment by pasting the text into the Word feedback document or my pasting screen grabs into the word feedback document (see video at http://emarkingassistant.com/demo-videos/grading-a-web-page-or-physical-assignment/)
    • Make sure that the part of the portfolio you want to capture is shown
    • Clicking under the rubric where you want the screen image to be inserted
    • Use the Insert Tab > Screenshot > click screen Clipping > the screen will go grey and you can use the mouse to drag from the top left to the bottom right of the image you want to capture > release the mouse button and the image will be inserted into the document.
    • If you want you can use a reusable comment on the screen clipping
    • When you have finished marking the portfolio click in the rubric and press f8 to total it

After you have finished marking the assignment use save as and add the grade or the mark at the end of the filename e.g. SMITH_Peter_Portfolio1_(60).doc. You must not change the first page of the file name as this is used to determine who the assignment is returned to when the files are bulk uploaded to Moodle

Put the mark into the Worksheet next to the student name so you can bulk upload the marks to Moodle.

3. Bulk upload  the feedback files and the marks to Moodle

(see video at http://emarkingassistant.com/demo-videos/moodle-emarking-egrading-workflow/uploading-the-marked-assignments-feedback-files-and-the-grades-into-moodle/)

  • Zip the marked assignments and feedback files
  • In Moodle use the Grading action: menu and select Upload multiple feedback files in a zip option to upload the assignments and follow the prompts to check that all the marked assignments are listed.
  • In Moodle use the Grading action: menu and select Upload grading worksheet option to upload the marks and follow the prompts to check that all the marks are listed