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THE STATE EXAMINATIONS commission has confirmed leaving and junior certificate exams will be marked by examiners this year following reports that they would be marked by computers.
The SEC said reports that some subjects would be marked using computers were ‘misleading’ and that all exams will continue to be marked by examiners, and “not by a computer”.
Instead, new software will be used to assist examiners, who can now view and mark exam scripts on computers instead of the traditional hard-copy marking process.
In a statement it said: “The SEC can advise that the information widely reported today in relation to online marking of the certificate examinations is misleading.
“Online marking involves scanned images of examination scripts being marked by examiners on a computer, not by a computer. The computer is not marking any work.
“All candidate work is seen and marked by an examiner, as has always been the case.”
In 2016 and 2017, the commission ran a pilot programme to test the new software with examiners who were grading French and English exams at leaving certificate and junior certificate level.
It said it “eliminated so much of the administrative work involved in paper-based marking” and that it had issued a notice to schools about the move to online marking for selected subjects this year.
The subject which will now be marked using the new method at leaving cert-level are Maths, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Politics and Society, and modules on the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme.
On the junior cycle, English, French, Science and Business Studies will also be marked using this method.
Recruitment for examiners has been ongoing since last December and examiners in subjects now using the online marking structure have already been informed.
“The move from a paper based marking model to one which is technology enabled will provide more efficient service delivery and improved turnaround times, improved quality management and enhanced security,” it said.
Tender
Last month, an award was granted to UK-based company RM Results, following the public tendering of a contract to set up the new scanning and online marking system
Galway based company KPW Business Forms Ltd. – who were involved in the online marking pilot scheme – previously took a High Court case challenging the SEC’s decision to award the tender, worth €5 million, to another company.
The tender was later dropped and the company then initiated proceedings to recoup legal costs it had incurred from taking the High Court action.
The judge ruled in their favour and ordered the SEC to pay the costs.
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I corrected papers for a few years. They should be using computers for 70% of it. Then they wouldn’t have problems getting correctors either
@Virgil: working with IT systems for decades I can’t think of anyway to get computers to mark exam papers. One thing for multiple choice tests but after that it is impossible for accurate OCR and evaluating answers. I would even say their is an issue using scanned images to mark papers. Images can miss written text easy enough
@Craic_a_tower: Not mark, but get the papers scanned and distributed electronically/securely. A paper could then be passed to a different examiner if there was a problem meg sickness. There would be no issue if lost papers. A % could be checked by 2 examiners anonymously to ensure even handed marking etc. Maybe the papers could even be given back to the students to see how well/badly they actually did.
@Bunny Johnson: Yes, that is exactly what they are trialling. I still have an issue with this due to the quality of mass scanning. I work with mass scanning of forms and there are issues on visibility and digitisation.
So yes there will be the ability to electronically move the material about but will it really save time? Then you have subjects like tech drawing where scanning won’t work at all. Paper only kept security issues to be limited
@Virgil: What subject?
@Craic_a_tower: I suppose, it’s like anything, it will suit most subjects but not all. It sounds like a step in the right direction though. I started life as an OCR operator (real title) scanning flight coupons on a machine at top speed. A LED display would display what it had read and you would have the failed coupons in the reject bin and try and sort it. Tears, pen marks and all sorts would screw up the read. Not to mention the machine used to “eat” tickets and we would have to piece them back together. OCR has changed in ways almost impossible to foresee and I don’t think it should be a barrier as it will only get better. Typed answers would obviously be the answer along with stopping pointless regurgitating of passages of text for Irish etc.
Is this not increasing administration by adding scanning to the process??
That’s it, keep the calendar stuck in 1957!
@John Flood: ???????
have your say