Feedback as scaffolding: senior examiner monitoring processes and their effects on examiner marking

Abstract

UK awarding bodies increasingly use technology to distribute digital copies of students’ examination scripts to examiners for marking. This process allows senior examiners (team leaders) to remotely monitor and feedback on the marking quality of examiners under their supervision throughout the marking period. The objective of this study was to gain an overview of team leader monitoring behaviours in the context of ongoing, situated decision making. This overview included specific analysis of the types of feedback behaviours employed by team leaders as well as the motivations behind their use. A second objective was to gain an understanding of the effects of any feedback on recipient examiners. The study identified that all team leaders proceeded through three distinct stages of monitoring. The study was also able to identify some variation in behaviours between the different team leaders, particularly in the extent to which feedback was dialogic in character, and this had apparent effects on the examiners who received the feedback.

Keywords:

• Vygotsky
• assessment
• examiners
• marking quality assurance
• technology
• feedback