Guidance in Marking using the ETMA system

1. Introduction

A new marking tool was introduced last year and information on exploiting it is in Appendix 3 - Marking Tool 2000 to allow it to be updated easily as our experience grows. The first impressions were good and a number of teething problems have been sorted out. Check this section for updates frequently. Much of the material specific to the earlier template based marking tools has been removed as no new tutor is likely to use them.

2. Strengths and weaknesses

Weaknesses:There are also weaknesses which can not be ignored - it is much more difficult to mark in the margins of other activities: on the train, at lunchtime in the office or the hotel room at night. The marking tool needs a powerful machine with specific software loaded so marking at work is nearly impossible - unauthorized use of Civil Service machines for paid work would have been an automatic disciplinary offence for my staff, as would loading software or even document files - most firms and even Universities must be the same. Laptops are slower and do not have the large displays needed for efficient marking and are more difficult to keep up to date for viruses. The other area of which can arguably be regarded as a weakness is that electronic marking needs discipline to avoid doing more than is required - one can deliver more value in the same time but there is a temptation to go further than one would ever do on paper.

3. Before Term Starts

Hardware Requirements

Hardware requirements for the marking tool The tool runs with a largish fixed Window which is always on-top. It has an option to sit this alongside the Window in which you are marking but this means that you must have at least a 1024 x 786 screen which means that 17 inch is marginal and a 19" wide screen monitor is desirable. The alternative is to minimise the marking window most of the time and lose the ability to use ticks or drag it almost off the bottom edge just leaving it's toolbar in sight.

• A large screen monitor will make marking easier - get at least 17 inch and consider 19 inch widescreen on a new machine.

Software requirements

You will need a number of pieces of software on your machine to carry out electronic marking.

You will need a utility to handle the Compressed Archives (Zipped) for downloaded ETMAs.

You must have OpenOffice or an up to date version of Microsoft Word (2003+) for efficient and effective marking. Word 2007, part of Office 2007 which is loaded on many up market machines also brings new facilities and the file formats are different.

• You can set up Microsoft automatic updates to include all Microsoft Products, they need them to keep secure.
• There is a check box in Word 2007 which forces compatibility with earlier versions by removing access to the new facilities - students must be actively encouraged to do that if the Tutor is using an earlier version of Word and you should use it if you have Office 2007.
• You may wish to investigate loading a convertor into Word if you have Office 2003 just in case. It is on the Microsoft Web site and called The Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats - all Office Updates should be applied first including Office 2003 Service Pack 3 the convertor already has its own service pack 1 (27 Mbytes)
• Remember even if you can handle .docx those monitoring your marking may not be able or willing to.
• The version of OpenOffice 2.4 used in Ubuntu 8.04 has a basic built in .docx convertor but input which had mark up was scrambled by having all the mark up changed into text inserts.
• Other versions have a very basic convertor installed or need one added.
• Convert, save in .doc open and inspect then mark and return as a .doc file.

Configuring Word

View - Page Layout .The first and most basic setting is the View - this is either set by the dropdown View menu or there is usually a tiny set of icons in the bottom left of the window alongside the scroll bar. You must be in Page Layout otherwise you will not see all the graphics. The mode often seems to revert to Normal when the template is opened or a file is reopened. This seems to catch people time after time.

User Information - Your name: You need to make sure your name is correct in Word as it shows on every insertion of information and annotation and is displayed in the "Bubbles" when one hovers over entries. It is set in Tools -> Options -> User Information Tag. It can otherwise be very embarrassing especially if it shows you are using somebody else's machine or software. Many tutors (and even staff) make similar mistakes and do not change the Author on documents they modify to provide teaching notes and in conference postings which can again show in "Bubbles" when one hovers over files - change it using File -> Properties -> Summary Tab.

Autocorrect:The Autocorrect options have severe effects on, in particular, program code. Word has a number of correction facilities which are turned on by default and will, for example, change (correct!) the capitalisation of words without one being aware. It will, for example, always ensure a sentence starts with a capital letter. This gives problems with students preparing code which is often case sensitive and I have had students contacting me to ensure they had not lost marks when they realised what had occurred. It is clearly also possible for Tutors using the marking tool to seriously lose credibility if changes are not noticed in their marking. It is possible to end up with all sorts of other odd changes and some of my marking was converted into copyright symbols and smileys by the Autocorrect settings - try typing (c) in Word. If one notices the changes one can often go back and correct them individually but it is much better to turn the facilities off . Autocorrect is on the Tools drop down menu.

Fastsave: Most versions of Word have an option for fast saves. This has the disadvantage that the undo information is not garbage collected very well and file sizes can just keep increasing. The undo information that remains can be easily viewed and can be a severe security risk if, for example, tutor notes are edited to provide a post mortem. This feature is turned off by some versions of the marking tool during marking and by mistake not enabled so you may already be OK! (Information provided by Simon Dugmore). The safest way is to do a final Select All and Copy Paste into a new document - one file I received reduced 16x when I did that!

Configuring OpenOffice Writer

The best way to mark is to use the Track Changes facility which is present in all Open/Star Office as well as all Microsoft Word versions. This is turned on and off in Open/Star Office by Edit -> Changes where there are tick boxes, the important ones being for Record and Show.

An alternative method is to use Comments (Called Notes in Open Office). These do not show up very well in OpenOffice where they are a tiny vertical yellow line which you hover over – they are more visible in Microsoft Word. They will be mostly used as an addition to direct changes in the text, perhaps to justify a change.

The final tool for marking is to insert a tick which is probably the most useful but depends on both tutor and student having the appropriate fonts installed. In Open Office the font set is called Dingbats but in Word it is Wingdings or Wingdings 2. It is therefore necessary for Tutors using Open Office under Linux to add the Wingdings and Wingdings 2 fonts to their system. See below

First some preliminaries to set up Open Office for marking and for students to view. I went through all the set up screens for Open Office to see what options were available. They were reached from Tools -> Options. The changes we made and some comments follow:

Finally I like to add a couple of buttons to the toolbar, namely those for Notes and Symbols. Use Tools -> Customise to do this. An alternative is to display the Insert Toolbar by View -> Toolbars and check the box for Insert - the insert toolbar has buttons for Notes and Symbols as well as some other useful possibilities for marking.

Adding Microsoft Wingdings Fonts to Linux (Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04) so they are accessible from Open Office to insert Ticks.

You can find the the Wingdings fonts in C:\Windows\Fonts. I eventually found a web reference at http://vitalbodies.wordpress.com/tag/installing-fonts-in-ubuntu/ where I discovered that True Type fonts which are available to all users are stored in folders under /usr/share/fonts/truetype in Ubuntu Linux so type in a terminal:

gksudo nautilus /usr/share/fonts/truetype

Next I created a new folder for your extra fonts which I called ttf-extra by a right click -> create folder etc.

Drag the extra fonts into the ttf-extra folder from whevern they were stored

Then alert Ubuntu that you added the fonts by typing the following in a terminal

sudo fc-cache -f -v

This rebuilds the font cache - the options are verbose and to force complete regeneration of the cache (neither may be necessary but I followed the instructions before reading the manual page)

It is possible from something else I read that with Ubuntu Linux creating a folder .fonts in your home directory and copying the font into it may be sufficient for a single user - I have not tried it. Other Linux systems may store fonts in a different place so you can try a search for truetype or fonts.

Virus Checking

Virus Checker Updates: Virus checkers need to be kept up to date. We also run tests to ensure that it is configured correctly and detects test viruses periodically using the EICAR standard test virus. Do we get viruses sent to us by students and detect them? Yes. The most serious instance last year was with a student who had been forced to use a friends laptop because of problems with their own machine. It was not protected and had become infected with a macro virus and we were sent three infected files all of which McAfee detected. We relented in the circumstances and said we would accept clean copies if they could be provided but unfortunately by the time the student got back to the machine it had been wiped clean by the virus and all their work with it.

Risks of Self Extracting Zip Files: One particular hobby horse we have is the use of self Extracting Zip files. The OU unfortunately offers them on the ETMA system and the marking tool is optimised for their use. Some courses teams even use them in FirstClass. These make ideal trojans and also give virus checkers a very difficult task as the problem files are in a compressed archive. It is prudent not to execute any self extracting Zip file, even those delivered by the ETMA system without further checks.

Treat any self extracting Zip File with great respect - they are almost impossible to virus check and the default setting for many virus checkers does not 'drill down' into a zipped archive because of the time it takes.

• If you receive a self extracting Zip File in email consider asking the sender for a normal zip file.

Viruses and Linux

Most Linux distributions, in particular Ubuntu are configured so they are inherently safe. There have been few Linux viruses, since one in 1997, and the built in Firewall in Ubuntu needs no further configuration unless you want to open it up for a web server or such like. This can be a problem when teaching as you will have no idea that emails and documents you have received were infected with Windows Viruses and you can happily send forward them to others. There are now some OpenSource Virus checkers which will run under Linux and detect Windows Viruses which were designed for Linux Servers such as ClamAV which I have on some of my LiveCDs to sort out other peoples problems.

4. Getting off to the Right Start with your Students

Initial Conference Postings: We ask them to post details of their Word Processor, Virus checking package (and when it was last updated) in a "I'm Here" thread. This means we know the potential problem areas with WP formats and it shames them into updating their virus checking - more on that latter. We then follow up with postings containing information on preparation of ETMAs - much of our material has migrated to the Student Guide but we still send it out and we have put it in an Appendix. We go online occasionally to check who has read them using conference History and add more postings if required. A few minutes spent in preparation and guidance saves hours latter. In our case we also point them to our web site which contains more information than we can sensibly post into a conference - many do visit but it is more difficult to track.

TMA00: We try to issue our guidelines to ETMA preparation well before they start their first TMA and remind them a little latter at a time when they have started to prepare the first TMA. We also try to persuade them to make use of the facility to submit a test ETMA TMA00 to the system and to send a few lines of text from their WP within it. This enables them to find out about basic problems like passwords well in advance. Likewise at the tutors end it gives the opportunity to set up the file structure to receive the ETMAs and make sure that the downloading and returning to the student goes well.

• Encourage your students to send in a TMA00 - they will not do so unless you push.
• Get them to include a few lines of text or even a drawing from their Word processor.
• Paste some examples of marking into the TMA00 before you return it so they can try the Word Viewer

• Tip from River~~ is to disable "Fast Saves" (on one of the Options Tabs in Word) - the slower saves re-write the entire file and leave out (most) of the undo info in the process.
• Copying the contents via Select All -> and Coping and Pasting into a new document can also work wonders - I have seen a 15 fold reduction on one occasion in a students submission and almost as big a change in some Course Team documents.

5. Organising ready for the First ETMA

6. Using the ETMA system

• You must have Cookies and Java enabled to use the ETMA Web sites
• Some Browsers do not inform you if a Cookie is refused so you may never know.

7. Collecting the ETMAs

Versions: One often gets several versions if the student thinks they have had problems with email submission. The ability to have several versions is useful as sometimes the system gives problems and students email the TMA to us in frustration and go to ground - we have then been known to use the email submission route on their behalf knowing that even if they succeed there will be no problems. You just have to take care to collect and mark the correct one and whatever happens they will be able to pick up from the web site.

8. Checking the ETMAs

We have always had a quick look at the scripts before starting to mark the first e-TMA to identify the worst incompatibilities This is even more important with the new tool as it more integrated with the e-TMA system and your directory structures so problems and solutions are best found before marking each group of scripts.

Common Problems with ETMAs

What to do if there are problems: Only a few ETMAs will have problems. One common one is that some students files are consistently reported as write protected by the marking tools although not actually protected.

The most common non-problem of all is that no drawings are visible in the tool

• You will only see drawings in Page View and the template often opens the first time in Normal view - this catches everyone at some point!

Misplaced drawings The most serious problem is that the drawings are misplaced or completely lost. Misplaced drawings are common in files that have been converted between different Word Processor formats.

It can also happen when Styles or other formatting has been applied which changes in the marking template. The templates also set standard margins and other page formatting which means that page ends and drawing positions move - sometimes under text. The problem also occurs when the original question is copied by the student - OU staff often use the Mac version of word which uses styles which cause severe problems in the template when the student accidentally uses them by editing the question! I have put a little more on in an Appendix on Styles

Sorting the Problems:

• Turn on the display of non printing characters using the Hide/Show button (a ¶ near the right of the toolbar) so you can see what is going on and where the graphics are anchored.
  • Enter is an end of paragraph
  • Shift Enter is a line break
  • Control Enter forces an end of page
• Word often seems to put Graphics into a Frame and wraps text round them - this can lead to all the graphics on top of each other and surrounded by their labels when converted (one TMA reduced from 16 to 12 pages).
• Selecting a Graphic and right click gives access to the commands to change the text wrapping etc (either Format Picture or Format Frame is usually present in all versions of Word)

9. Marking the ETMA

General Considerations

When a tutor begins electronic marking it is best to start by computerising your best practice in marking TMAs on paper. Good practice for teaching has to be the basis for good electronic teaching. Then explore how the technology may enable even better feedback to students, yet still within the broad envelope of no more than 1 hour per script for marking.

Ensure you have the largest possible area for displaying the script

• Turn off all toolbars you do not require. (View -> Toolbars)
• Turn off the Rulers (View -> Ruler)
• Turn on Page View (View -> Click Page Layout )

• Open separate copy(s) of Word or Openoffice in a Window for Tutor Notes and/or your own comments for cut and paste.
  • Minimise/restore them by clicking on the Taskbar icon.
  • Remember there are keyboard shortcuts for Copy (Ctrl C), and Paste (Ctrl V) - they will save a lot of time.
    
• Beware of styles in the Tutor Notes and other OU documents - See the Appendix on Styles if you have problems.

• Post messages into the Tutor Group conference to tell students when the batches of TMAs have been collected, and when the batches are available for collection.

Marking the Scripts

I always mark in batches of TMAs and begin by marking all the Question 1s, then move on to Question 2 etc. I generally do not use any special font but use whatever is in use by the student at the point where I am adding my comments. But I do remove italic and bold, if they are set. Ideally the font for programming comments should be that generally used by the course team in the TMA, so it matches the student's programming and also stands out compared with normal comments. Never use only capitals - it is regarded as shouting. For mathematics courses I sometimes use selective cut-and-paste from the TMA, the tutor notes, or my own notes. This is quick and easy with electronic marking. You can keep a separate copy of Word open in a Window to do this - the tool does not permit multiple TMAs to be open simultaneously. Some courses provide post-mortem handouts, or tutors use their own notes to generate handouts. I never provide the complete solution to students.

Completing the PT3

• Begin with positive comments on the strong points of the TMA indicating, emphasizing and building upon its strengths; follow by constructive criticism if required, giving examples of areas for improvement and how to achieve this; round off on a high note of achievement
• Add comments to the PT3 as each question is marked.
• Build a collection of appropriate paragraphs, and cut and paste onto each PT3; don't forget to type in personalised text too.

10. What the Student will see

11. Returning the ETMAs

APPENDIX 1 - Advice on Layout to aid marking and feedback to Students

• Addition, deletion and highlighting of text using the Change Tracking facilities built into modern Word Processors
• Inserted text for clarification and corrections (In a different colour and/or font)
• Ticks
• Comments/Notes showing as popups on hovering over text or as links to Annotations
• Marks (for parts and whole questions)

Most of these take up additional space and need a suitable location. Our advice is to:

• Provide locations for feedback to land - add a few lines after every part of a question, under every table and under every graphic. Three lines is sufficient to allow for links to annotations, marks and ticks without changing your layout.
• Avoid Blue and Red - the tutors comments are by default displayed in Blue or Red and deleted text in Red.
• Let text flow - Reserve page ends for starts of questions otherwise they will inevitably end up in the wrong places.
• Do not use Macros - files containing macros are rejected by many virus checkers and will not be recognised if your tutor uses OpenOffice or StarOffice which is now provided by the OU.
• Tabular output - Simple tables seem to be OK whilst there is evidence tab settings and margins can change.
• Minimise use of "Styles" - in particular watch out if you include inserts from OU TMA questions. See below for details.
• Avoid graphics when text will do - cut and paste text rather than graphics to reduce size and risk. Most tutors do not require big screen dumps (and telephone bills) as proof of postings!
• Keep Graphics simple - do not overlay graphics and text or other graphics - they will move and parts get lost.
• Keep Graphics Small: It is easier to mark if the graphics are sized to a screen without changing magnification and losing detail
• Drawing tools - "Freeze" graphics from Drawing Tools into a single standard graphic so the parts do not move.
• Avoid wrapping text round Graphics
• Turn off Autocorrect options - they can "correct" your code capitalisation without you realising - See below.
• Convert to Word 97 format yourself - (if you need to)
• Force compatibility with your agreed format in latter versions of Word .
• KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) - Do not use fancy features which conversion or marking will change or lose or where inserts will destroy the effects.

APPENDIX 2 - More on Styles

"Styles" also causes problems to students with screen captures that either don't end up in the right place, or on top of one another when they paste them into a document with its roots in an OU document. A reasonable form of presentation can be created in this case if:

• at least one new paragraph is inserted before the pasting is done;
• the pasting is done into that paragraph;
• that paragraph is given the style called 'Normal'.

Appendix 3 - Using the Marking Tool

Repeat extractions and downloads: The self extracting zip files ask for a directory (folder) into which they expand. If you need to get a fresh copy of a students script from your downloaded file or you get a second copy for some reason from the e-TMA site you must take great care not to extract to the same directory - the tool overwrites any existing files including any work you have marked without asking. Either extract to a different directory or Open using Winzip by right clicking on the file and select Open with Winzip from the menu. you can then drag the file(s) you need to the correct directory or open documents directly to check their contents.

Download Filenames: The filenames automatically allocated for download archives from the e-TMA site uses the Tutor ID and date - if you download a second batch you will get a duplicate .zip or .exe file. Add a, b, c etc on the end if you expect to download several times.

Student provides multiple "document" files. The new tool opens Word and attaches the template and PT3 automatically so you have much less flexibility in handling a script which has been broken up. The correct solution is to ask him to resubmit using a single (but see above). If you wish to carry on you will need to find out or select (see below) the master file which the Tool selects for marking and then insert the contents of the other files before marking is started using a stand alone version of Word. Do not change the filenames as the e-TMA system tracks what it has sent and expects to receive - leave the other files there as well. The eTMA system does not care about the file extensions but it is very particular about the names of the files themselves, and will reject them if they are changed. File extensions are not currently tracked because .rtf files are converted to .doc files. Check it has all worked at the end.

Selecting the Master File used by the e-TMA system:Some versions of the Marking Tool allow one to Right Click the student's name in the main window (next to where it said 'unmarked') to change the choice of document for the marks to go on - Note you have to save and close the marking tool and go in again before marking the document. (Reported by Jana H.M. Colchester) .

Checking what the student gets: A complete end to end check can be made by downloading the marked e-TMA from the e-TMA site and opening in Word Viewer or your word processor - new Tutors should try this a few times. Encourage the student to use the Word Viewer as there is great flexibility in Word on how "Reviewed" text is displayed and he may have a different setup!

Read the Tips, Tricks and Advice files provided with updates: There are a number of problems awaiting fixes identified at any point in time.

Let the tool finish each operation before starting another: Many of the problems identified seem to relate to parts of the tool and your activities getting out of step. This can be avoided if you let all parts of the tool complete their operations before you start another one including saving and opening of files and Windows.

Adding a Keyboard Shortcut to Insert Ticks: It is nice to run with the Scoring Window minimised and parked out of the way whilst reading the text and inserting comments if you have a small screen. This however removes access to the Tick button. The Tick is a standard symbol and it is possible to generate a keyboard shortcut to insert it - we have chosen Ctrl T which is a shortcut we do not use in Word and is easy to remember. Use the Insert Drop down menu and click Symbol. The Tick is in the Wingdings font on the bottom row near the right hand end. There is a button at the bottom marked Shortcut Key - you just press the key you choose (Cntr T) and click Assign and that's it. It by default is saved in your normal.dot template and will be available for evermore in Word.

Undoing changes in inserted comments and deletions: You need to turn the Track Changes facility off if you have made mistakes in your corrections which you need to remove - you will need to display the Review Toolbar by View -> Toolbars and click Reviewing. The Reviewing Toolbar has a button called Track Changes (about half way along - search for it by hovering over each one in turn). You can also add this Button to your own toolbars using Tools -> Customise -> Toolbars tab where you will find the button in the Tools Category. When you have found it drag it to where you want it in one of your own Toolbars and click Close. You can also add a button for Insert Comments in the same way if you use the facility a lot or leave the Reviewing Toolbar turned on if you have the space available. Experiment with turning Track Changes on and off on a training script rather than experiment on a real one.

Effects of Customisation: Customising the Toolbar and adding a keyboard shortcut for Ticks allows one to mark with the Scoring Screen minimised and parked until one adds part marks - this should transform your marking on a small screen. These are standard Word facilities so the impacts on the marking Tool should be minimal however they are unlikely to be supported by the Help Desk.

Work with small numbers of scripts and backup: Until the tool and techniques are fully understood and proven, work with small sets of scripts and back up occasionally by leaving the tool and copying the section of the directory (folder) structure you are using to somewhere safe.

Remember - a pessimist is an optimist with experience.

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Copyright © Peter and Pauline Curtis Revision 2.10 18th May, 2001 Revision 3.01: 2 rd November 2008