How I reduced my marking time from 4 hours a week to 15 minutes

April 1, 2025

Reading each student’s work each week, at a rate of ten minutes each, took nearly two and a half hours. Thinking of suitable comments, adding them in to the appropriate place in Google Classroom, and updating my spreadsheet markbook took another hour and a half.

Something had to be done.

Using AI to mark students' work: postscript

September 16, 2024

I didn’t think AI's answer was good enough. I didn’t ask how ethical the proposals were. I asked it to mark an Economics essay.

Using AI to mark students' work

September 13, 2024

The Department for Education in England is running a study on how AI might be used for marking work. I thought I’d test AI’s ability to mark a student’s economics essay.

On this day #7: Marking workload reduction

November 22, 2020

The only thing worse than feeling tired but knowing you have to mark 30 books by tomorrow morning is that feeling of ennui at 5 o-clock on a grim Sunday evening when all you want to do is curl up with a mug of tea and watch a movie, but having those exercise books smirking back at you.

How I became more efficient at marking and got my life back

November 22, 2018

Here is a short exposition of the changes I made in order to reduce the amount of marking I had to take home with me.

Robot, by Terry. OK, so I'm useless at drawing. Get over it!

Robots, artificial intelligence and all that

October 5, 2017

Call me a dreamer, but I think AI and robots are developments to be welcomed in education, not to worry about.

Such a shame that we can't look inside kids' heads. It would make assessment so much easier!

5 articles on assessment and assessing computing

April 28, 2016

How to assess pupils in Computing, marking, evaluation -- here are 5 articles that I hope you'll find challenging, thought-provoking and perhaps even useful!

My 10-point marking strategy

April 19, 2016

Marking is an important part of assessment, but it need not be unduly arduous.

Hollywood here I come. Or maybe not. Picture from pixabay.com CC0

Terry's 2 minute tips #1 Marking with coloured pens

April 12, 2016

Is marking with different coloured pens a good idea? That's the topic I cover in this edition of Terry's 2 Minute Tips.

What colour shall we use today? Picture from www.pixabay.com CC0

Marking with coloured pens? Don't make me laugh!

April 4, 2016

I find the notion of marking kids' work in different coloured pens ridiculous. Always have done.

Recent book reviews

Review: Teach Fast

The book contains some interesting ideas.

A question of leadership

I have somewhat dichotomous views of this question of whether leaders make a difference, or much of a difference. I think my views can be classified as macro and micro.

Review: Making Good Progress?

Daisy Christodoulou carefully picks apart the pitfalls of various kinds of assessment, drawing on different subject areas to do so.

principles and practice of assessment.jpg

Review: Principles and Practices of Assessment

There is plenty in this book to like.

Review: Effective Teaching: Evidence and Practice

Although this is a few years old now (2018), it has stood the test of time.

Review: One for maths teachers

This wide-ranging book takes in probability, fractals, astronomy, Babbage, Lovelace and a host of other areas and people.

Reviews: Two for History teachers

Two books on the Nazi era.

Review: One for English teachers

No book about the craft of writing seems complete without a stern chapter on the importance of eschewing adverbs and adjectives - but what to put in their place?

Review: The Great Formal Machinery Works: Theories of Deduction and Computation at the Origins of the Digital Age

If you’re of a mathematical bent this could be just the book to delve into.

Review: How to lie with statistics

Although this book is over 60 years old, it is remarkably apposite for our times -- and especially in the fields of educational research and assessing pupils' understanding and progress.