Staff Grading for Open Response Assignments#

Staff grading for Open Response Assessments (ORAs) now exists as a separate app to enable more efficient and fully-featured grading workflows. Within this ORA staff grading app, staff can easily:

  • View the state of all submissions for an ORA.

  • Select individual/batch submissions to review.

  • Navigate between multiple submissions.

  • View responses and assign grades directly in the app.

  • Claim submissions for exclusive review to avoid grading conflicts.

Submissions List View#

The main view shows a table listing responses for that particular ORA. The table on the page shows the submitting user (or team, for team assignments), the submission date, grade (if graded) and grading status. The grading status shows:

  • “Ungraded” when that submission has not yet received a grade.

  • “Currently being graded by someone else” when another staff member is actively grading that submission.

  • “You are currently grading this response” when you have claimed that submission for grading but have not yet submitted a grade.

  • “Grading Completed” when that submission has received a grade.

Selecting Submissions for Review#

From the submission list view, staff can select the submissions which they would like to review by checking the checkbox on the left of the submission row. After selecting one or more submissions to review, they can click “View selected responses” to begin reviewing the selected responses. Alternatively, staff can choose not to select individual responses but click “View all responses” to review all submitted responses for the ORA.

Note

The page size of the submissions list is limited so it may be necessary to move between pages by clicking the “Previous” and “Next” buttons to view or select all the responses you’re interested in reviewing.

View Individual Responses#

The view that opens shows one selected submission at a time. This view allows staff to review the submission’s text response and uploaded files, if any. The top bar on the page shows the current submission’s submitting user or team, the current submission’s grading status, the grading controls, and buttons to navigate to the next/previous selected submission.

File List & File Previews#

If the response contains files, a “Submission Files” list will show at the top of the page. This lists the name, file type, and size for each uploaded file. Additionally, hovering over the info icon (ℹ) in the file row shows additional metadata about the uploaded file.

Some file types can be previewed directly on the page. To view files that can’t be previewed in-page (any other file types not stated below) staff can download all files associated with the response as a zip file by clicking the “Download files” button in the files card to get a Zip of files and file metadata.

Note

The current file types that are supported for in-page previews are: pdf, jpg, jpeg, png, bmp, txt, gif, jfif, pjpeg, pjp, and svg.

Text Responses#

If a submission also contains a text response (either plain text or rich text), the text response will also show on the page, below any uploaded files.

View the Rubric#

While reviewing submission material, staff can view the rubric for the submission by clicking the “Show Rubric” button. This opens a non-editable rubric to help identify the criteria staff should use for grading.

Start Grading#

When staff is ready to grade they can begin grading with the “Start grading” button. This will open an editable rubric which enables staff to select the score for a submission and provide comments.

The “Start grading” button will also “claim” the current submission for grading. This gives the staff member exclusive access to submit a grade for this submission, helping to avoid grading conflicts. A submission that has been claimed is still visible to all staff but cannot be graded by other staff until:

  • The grading staff member submits the grade,

  • The grading staff member releases the lock by clicking the “Stop grading” button, or

  • After 8 hours elapses (whichever comes first).

While the submission is claimed for grading, staff can select the rubric options for each grading criteria and provide any required feedback before clicking “Submit grade” to submit their grade. Alternatively, if the staff member no longer wishes to grade this response they can click the “Stop grading this response” button that now appears at the top of the page.

Override a Grade#

After a submission has received a grade, it is still possible to override that grade. Staff can navigate to a previously-graded submission and click “Override grade”. The workflow for submitting a grade override is similar to submitting an initial grade: select the appropriate rubric options and provide feedback before clicking “Submit override”. A modal will ask to confirm if this is the intended action before overriding the grade.

Exit the Application#

When done grading this set of responses, staff can return to the submission list view by clicking the X at the top right of the application bar. This will also release the grading claim on any submissions the staff member currently has open, but ungraded.