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Final supporters
We psychology students at the University of Northampton are petitioning to demand a review of current marking procedures for undergraduate psychology courses. This comes following a) recent grade reviews which have seen our grades significantly drop with no explanation and b) a collective sense of unfair assignment marking this academic year 2017/18. It is our firm belief that current marking procedures have demonstrated significant subjectivity and variation between markers and quality of feedback.
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Appeal against NRSG259 marking and feedback re Assessment 1B and Assessment 2
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10 Comments
On two occasions up to now I have had my grade changed drastically . I was under the impression that the markers have to meet in the middle when they disagree but it seems that one marker can give u am A and the second a C . The difference is too significative to be ignored !
The marking and feedback from the psychology department this year has been ridiculous. Grades should not be changed more than one sub grade either side when being moderated, yet one of my grades changed from an A- to a C-, which is disgusting, and I wasn’t provided with an adequate explanation when I went to see my tutor about it. In addition to this, one of my exam grades have just been changed from a C to a D+ without an explanation, which once again reinforces the discrepancy of marking from different members of staff. In terms of feedback on assignments, comments are vague at best, and instructions given to us before deadlines conflict when they’re provided by multiple tutors. It is difficult for students to understand how we can improve in the future if the information we are being given is different depending on who we ask, and the information is mostly unhelpful. Critical comments that are detailed on assignment feedback generally tends to contradict what is highlighted in the rubric as tasks that we have achieved successfully, which only leads to more confusion and frustration among students. Grades also tend to be released much later in the psychology department than other departments at our very own university. Many 2nd year psychology students will know that one of our assignment grades was not given back to us until 7 weeks after we had submitted the piece. To make matters worse, not only are we supposed to receive grades back within four weeks, but we were promised several times that the grades will be released soon, yet this repeated promise was not kept until almost 2 months after completing the assignment. The psychology department can’t carry on like this. Their lack of organisation and discrepancy can make students excessively stressed, which may impact our grades and make us feel completely overwhelmed. Everyone is talking about this new move to a new campus next year, but what is the point if the mistakes made by one of the uni’s biggest departm
It has been both reassuring and undesirable to see that other students have been confused by inconsistent grades and feedback. I have also been confused by feedback focused on technicalities rather than context and extreme grade contrasts between modules/markers. With such variation in results, I would be interested in having my grades reviewed!
Agree with other students feeling that marking is not consistent. I myself have experiences of assignment grades being unreasonable and inconsistent with the feedback.
agree.
The marking seems to have taken a back seat this year which has had major impact on the students of the university!
Told to do something in an essay, proceed to do it, penalised for it. So many issues with marking this year, really need to sort it out if we don't want the move to waterside to be any more detrimental than it already will be.
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Status: Closed — this petition is no longer accepting signatures.
Final supporters
We psychology students at the University of Northampton are petitioning to demand a review of current marking procedures for undergraduate psychology courses. This comes following a) recent grade reviews which have seen our grades significantly drop with no explanation and b) a collective sense of unfair assignment marking this academic year 2017/18. It is our firm belief that current marking procedures have demonstrated significant subjectivity and variation between markers and quality of feedback.
10 Comments
In addition to the marking discrepancies, it would be good if student ID numbers are used instead of names whilst marking assignments. This will reduce all sorts of biases.
On two occasions up to now I have had my grade changed drastically . I was under the impression that the markers have to meet in the middle when they disagree but it seems that one marker can give u am A and the second a C . The difference is too significative to be ignored !
The marking and feedback from the psychology department this year has been ridiculous. Grades should not be changed more than one sub grade either side when being moderated, yet one of my grades changed from an A- to a C-, which is disgusting, and I wasn’t provided with an adequate explanation when I went to see my tutor about it. In addition to this, one of my exam grades have just been changed from a C to a D+ without an explanation, which once again reinforces the discrepancy of marking from different members of staff. In terms of feedback on assignments, comments are vague at best, and instructions given to us before deadlines conflict when they’re provided by multiple tutors. It is difficult for students to understand how we can improve in the future if the information we are being given is different depending on who we ask, and the information is mostly unhelpful. Critical comments that are detailed on assignment feedback generally tends to contradict what is highlighted in the rubric as tasks that we have achieved successfully, which only leads to more confusion and frustration among students. Grades also tend to be released much later in the psychology department than other departments at our very own university. Many 2nd year psychology students will know that one of our assignment grades was not given back to us until 7 weeks after we had submitted the piece. To make matters worse, not only are we supposed to receive grades back within four weeks, but we were promised several times that the grades will be released soon, yet this repeated promise was not kept until almost 2 months after completing the assignment. The psychology department can’t carry on like this. Their lack of organisation and discrepancy can make students excessively stressed, which may impact our grades and make us feel completely overwhelmed. Everyone is talking about this new move to a new campus next year, but what is the point if the mistakes made by one of the uni’s biggest departm
It has been both reassuring and undesirable to see that other students have been confused by inconsistent grades and feedback. I have also been confused by feedback focused on technicalities rather than context and extreme grade contrasts between modules/markers. With such variation in results, I would be interested in having my grades reviewed!
Agree with other students feeling that marking is not consistent. I myself have experiences of assignment grades being unreasonable and inconsistent with the feedback.
agree.
The marking seems to have taken a back seat this year which has had major impact on the students of the university!
Told to do something in an essay, proceed to do it, penalised for it. So many issues with marking this year, really need to sort it out if we don't want the move to waterside to be any more detrimental than it already will be.
More like this
Appeal against NRSG259 marking and feedback re Assessment 1B and Assessment 2
A petition to oppose a move to change the allocation of marks for a Global…
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In addition to the marking discrepancies, it would be good if student ID numbers are used instead of names whilst marking assignments. This will reduce all sorts of biases.