Marking, finally

When the marking season started, I didn't immediately find time to actually make any progress on that. Too many other things, mainly to do with academic integrity, were getting in the way. But that marking needs to happen anyway, so the week after I indeed managed to knuckle down a bit. I marked quite a number of dissertations, and managed both climate exams.

The part of marking I managed to make quite comfortable is second marking dissertation. If you are the first marker, do you have to provide detailed feedback for the student. If you are a second marker, the only thing you need to do is provide a few sentences to explain your mark to the external examiner. So you can just print them out and read them wherever you want! In my case; quite often, in the comfortable chair (for which I compete with the cat) in the conservatory, with a big pot of tea next to it. Or a mug of coffee.

I am aware of the environmental cost of printing out a dissertation that you will chuck away once you've read and marked it. But the marking has to be done by the deadline, so that means out of hours working, and I want that to not be more uncomfortable than it needs to be!