Extended Essay Marking on Screen: Is Examiner Marking Accuracy Influenced by Marking Mode?

In the UK and elsewhere, large-scale educational assessment agencies are shifting the mode of school examination marking towards having examiners mark examination scripts on screen rather than on paper. This shift has prompted questions about whether the mode of marking might influence examiner marking accuracy, particularly in relation to extended essay responses. The study reported in this article investigated this issue empirically as part of a wider research project which looked broadly at the influence of marking mode on 12 examiners' marking outcomes and processes when assessing samples of extended essays. No association was found between marking mode and the magnitude of marking accuracy, and a practically and statistically negligible association was found between marking mode and the direction of marking accuracy. Given the mode-related influences on examiners' navigating and annotating behaviours that were also evident in the data, the article discusses the potential relationships between the findings. (Contains 9 tables, 2 figures and 3 notes.)