Who are marking criteria for?
Marking criteria and standards aim to make the assessment process more transparent for everyone. For those setting assessments, they should help to identify appropriate modes, topics and scope (alongside the module learning and skill outcomes). For markers, they aim to increase clarity and consistency across the module and programme (Jönsson & Panadero, 2017). For students, criteria and standards should ideally support the process of learning through assessment (see Assessment for learning, one of the University’s Principles for Learning, Teaching and Assessment). That is, they provide comprehensible goals that students can refer to and work toward throughout the assessment process (Ajjawi, 2023).
Markers’ marking criteria literacy
Marking calibration is an effective way to ensure that the criteria and pro formas are fit for purpose, and that the markers are confident in using them to assess students work. See Marking criteria calibration for further details.
Students’ marking criteria literacy
On the programme level, it is recommended that students are introduced to the criteria that are shared across modules the first time they encounter a new type of assessment. Giving students ample time to engage with the criteria in formative ways before their first summative submission has been shown to improve their engagement with them (Sadler, 2007).
The following are key recommendations to support students in engaging with marking criteria:
Familiarise students with the use of marking criteria
Different types of assessment on your programme may involve different marking criteria, or the same criteria may be used throughout. In either case, when students encounter a new form of assessment it is recommended that the lecturer make time to familiarise students with how they are used:
- Explain the purpose of the marking criteria and demonstrate to students how they would be applied by the marker, using a sample submission (e.g. a mock assessment or a former student’s anonymised submission, with permission). This could be done as part of the introduction to the assessment, as a video for students to watch after the initial discussion, or at the beginning of an exercise where students apply the criteria themselves.
- Supply pairs or small groups of students with a sample assessment to mark themselves. This is best done in-person, but can be assigned as an individual activity outside of the classroom as well. Once the students have ‘marked’ the assessment, discuss their questions, comments and uncertainties about the marking criteria before talking through the approach that the marker would take.
- Organise a peer feedback exercise. Peer feedback is a proven way to increase student understanding of marking criteria, but also to expose them to different assessment approaches, improve their marks, and foster communication skills (Kerman et al., 2023). It is recommended that, in the first instance, this involve formative assessments only; however, in appropriate circumstances, it may focus on drafts or portions of the summative (see Peer Feedback and Assessment).
- Guide students through a self-feedback process. This may involve students applying self-feedback to formatives, summative elements or summative drafts, and is often a part of the peer feedback cycle. Guided self-feedback should prepare students to practice it on their own, but for students who are new to self-feedback the process will usually consist of:
- Applying marking criteria to own work
- Comparing self-feedback to peer and/or marker feedback
- Re-evaluating self-feedback
- Revising the assessment
Link to assessments
Remind students of the marking criteria throughout the module, making sure to reinforce the importance of understanding and meeting the criteria. Leaders of first-year modules might also consider designing assessments that specifically enable students to engage with marking criteria, like formative assessments that feed into the summative or iterative assessments (e.g. multi-stage assignments, team projects or portfolios) (Carless & Boud, 2018; Yan & Carless, 2022).
Regularly review pro formas and criteria
Establish regular reviews of the marking pro forma/rubric as a whole, and the criteria and descriptors in particular. Take into consideration any confusion, among students or markers, that could be addressed by revising the pro forma and/or criteria.
References and resources
Guidance and Support for Marking Criteria Review (internal to Durham University)
Ajjawi R. (ed.) (2023) Assessment for inclusion in higher education: promoting equity and social justice in assessment, Routledge.
Carless, D. & Boud, D. (2018) ‘The development of student feedback literacy: enabling uptake of feedback’, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 43:8, 1315-1325.
Jones, L., Allen., B., Dunn, P. & Brooker, L. (2017) Demystifying the rubric: a five-step pedagogy to improve student understanding and utilisation of marking criteria, Higher Education Research & Development, 36:1, 129-142, DOI: 10.1080/07294360.2016.1177000.
Jönsson, A. & Panadero, E. (2017) ‘The Use and Design of Rubrics to Support Assessment for Learning’ in Scaling up Assessment for Learning in Higher Education, edited by David Carless, et al., Springer Singapore.
Kerman, N.T., Banihashem, S.K., Karami, M., Er, E., van Ginkel, S. & Noroozi, O. (2024) Online peer feedback in higher education: A synthesis of the literature. Education and Information Technologies 29, 763–813.
Sadler, D.R. (2009) ‘Indeterminacy in the use of preset criteria for assessment and grading’, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 34:2, 159-179.
Sambell, Kay, et al. Assessment for Learning in Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Group, 2012, pp. 141-146.
Yan, Z. & Carless, D. (2022) ‘Self-assessment is about more than self: the enabling role of feedback literacy’, Assessment and evaluation in higher education, 47, pp. 1116–1128.