How long for marking of work?

glider3560

I was wondering if any universities actually set deadlines for their staff as to how quickly they mark work?

I'm still waiting for the results of a lab report (a short one - just two sheets of paper) which was handed in at the start of March. Now two and a half months later and they still haven't given us our results.

Similar with an essay from a different department. Took almost two months for it to be marked, even though we were only given two weeks to write it.

I understand that staff are busy but when we have to put effort in to make sure we get a piece of work done for a short deadline, I'd expect the work to be marked within a reasonable amount of time.

Feedback on work is generally very poor, you typically get no more than five words of feedback on a 1500 word essay. Work is returned to us by leaving it in a cardboard box either in the department office or in the lab, so you don't even know who has marked your work (I believe several markers are used for each piece of work).

Conversely, exams are generally marked very quickly. Usually within 3-4 weeks they have results published. Although we get absolutely no feedback for these (not even a breakdown of the results for each section - just overall unit scores), nor can we see our exam papers or talk to the marker about them.

Anyone with any similar experiences?

The_One_Who

My department (unsure if this is university-wide) sets a turnaround of three or four weeks, depending on the type of work. Obviously, if one staff member has to mark seventy essays, this might not be possible and so there is a bit of lee-way there.

I would say that two and a half months is a bit excessive, but there may be other factors involved. For example, for one of my courses there was a similar delay. The lecturer had a bereavement, and also had several other things going on including externally examining. He also writes at least a full page of feedback (my work got two full pages back, as well as comments throughout!) for each piece of work. Although that was only one case, and he usually can get work back in good time.

If you have issues with the way things are done you should speak to the department head.

Smidster

At Warwick the turn round is normally about 6 weeks.

Though there is no actual feedback...just a mark

scottishblondie

At my uni we have no firm deadlines for marking work other than exams, only guidelines. I try to mark and return within 2 weeks, but I know other tutors who will leave it much longer and some lecturers seem to take forever. I always try to leave constructive feedback, but as an undergrad I can remember being frequently disappointed over the lack of comments to help me improve. In my own experience we were never given back our exam scripts or a breakdown of marks, just a result. I think this is the norm at most universities.

If you have concerns over the marking of your work I would recommend you first speak to your adviser of studies (or equivalent person), then perhaps approach the head of department.

bestpud

Four weeks at my uni and there is always useful feedback from the tutors I've had.

Any hold ups are usually to do with second marking but tutors always email to say if they are going to be late.

I agree you should follow it up if you are concerned - I'd have spoken up long before now if I'd handed on in at the beginning of March and heard nothing!

Alcmene

Where I am the turnaround is 15 working days, this is not a guidance, it is a deadline.

Work is always signed by the marker so each student knows who marked the work and can get direct feedback from that person. The written feedback is not always extensive, however the mark is provided with some written feedback, and verbal feedback is readily available. 10& of all assessments are also blindly second marked to ensure that the marking is carried out at the correct standard and in a fair manner across the board.

It's a shame that it is probably the "better" universities who treat student feedback as a trifling matter as they are too busy doing more "important" things. Students should look more closely at where they go to study, big research centres are normally not that student-centred as the educators are off doing something else, and the marking and often teaching is left to post-graduate students to carry out.

kymbogs

For us it's 4 working weeks. We've always been told this, including when we handed in assignments before and just after Easter, so I was rather annoyed to be told on Tuesday that we won't find out our marks until they have been verified by the exam board in July and won't get our feedback until September. They had no problem giving us provisional marks in January this year when we didn't get the exam board transcript until Easter! Anyway....yes I would be utterly annoyed if I had been waiting 2.5 months for a mark with no explanation. It must be difficult in a situation whereby you have little or no relationship with the tutors!

We are lucky in terms of feedback, we tend to receive comments throughout the assignment and a feedback sheet is attached to each assignment with general comments, areas of strength and areas for development. Though having said that I've struggled as yet to look at one of these feedback sheets and be able to figure out what it is I need to do to get a better mark!

Everynamestaken

Out of interest, what university do you attend?

Danstar_2

Alcmene wrote: »

It's a shame that it is probably the "better" universities who treat student feedback as a trifling matter as they are too busy doing more "important" things. Students should look more closely at where they go to study, big research centres are normally not that student-centred as the educators are off doing something else, and the marking and often teaching is left to post-graduate students to carry out.

one of my friends at uni, also called dan, got an earfull for asking to have his work remarked because his 2 lines of feedback didn't fit his work. Questioning judgement of markers or something if i remember.

I myself asked a member of faculty to read through my work and about 4 weeks later he responded saying only he agreed with the feedback given.

It is a joke. Given you pay for the education you'd expect staff to
be approachable and handson with the delivery of it rather than caring only about their research. If your teachers were like that in school your parents would just withdraw you and send you elsewhere and the school would lose out on term fees. It just doesn't happen.

glider3560

Thanks for all the responses. It would seem that different universities (and even different departments within a university) take different views to this.

As far as I'm aware, our coursework (essays and lab reports) aren't marked by a second marker. They are just marked once by a pool of markers (for a large class) or one person (for a smaller class). When I've tried to get feedback, staff have been incredibly unapproachable so I've now given up asking for feedback. As others have said, it seems some staff are more interested in their research than teaching, whereas some lecturers take their teaching role very seriously - a real mixed bag here.

MrsManda

In the case of my degree, the time it takes to get the marks back and feedback is highly dependent on the piece of work and the course but we are usually given a rough idea of when we are going to recieve the work back.
Lab reports for some modules are given to us at the end of the next lab, whereas it can take up to two months to get an essay back.
I've never had any problems with this as our lectures are open with us about how long it'll take. For instance one module had 300 people who handed in an essay at the same time. Even if each essay only take 15minutes for one person to mark it, and another five minutes for a second marker to read through and make sure they agree with the first marker that's 20 minutes per essay, so 100 hours of marking required and the lecturers don't just teach our module, they have other students and other work. Whereas our labs have 20 people and reports don't get second marked because of their nature so we get them back within the week.

Exams are always going to be different because they are strictly timetabled across the university. There is a set exam period and there's a deadline for the first marker so there can be a second marker and if there's a large discrepancy there can be a third marker, so the marks can be in in time for the examination board meetings and the results to be published to ensure people graduate on time, or in other years - any exam failures are reported in time for the student to revise for the resit weeks which are set at the beginning of the year.

On my degree we have two class reps who go to a meeting of department heads each term with our feedback/complaints/suggestions on how to do it better. This obviously doesn't help us directly but does increase the likelihood of the years following us not ending up making the same complaints