An Online Marking, Feedback and Moderation Tool for Computer Science Higher Education Courses

While the value of marking, feedback and their moderation are widely acknowledged, there is great variety in their application in Higher Education Computer Science (CS) courses, due to the diversity of topics, learning outcomes, assessment types, and lack of a universal software solution. To address this issue for the School of Informatics of the University of Edinburgh, over the last three years we have been developing MarkEd: an online tool for marking, feedback and moderation for academics, markers and students, which considers their needs and includes pedagogic strategies for ensuring quality. This involved requirements gathering, three rounds of design and two of implementation, with each stage seeking feedback from academics, markers and students. Results were positive, and MarkEd shows potential for our school and beyond. This paper introduces MarkEd, its development, evaluation, and ways towards it becoming a flexible solution for Higher Education CS courses.