MarkSpace 0.1 Release
How MarkSpace Was Created
The Idea
About 4 months ago today, my Honors Principles of Engineering teacher, Mr. Friesen, and I came up with an idea to fix the broken system of how tests are graded in schools today. We realized that the key to fast, fair grading is to turn sequential grading into block grading. What does this mean? When a teacher grades a test now, they grade the first student’s answer to question 1, then the first student’s answer to question 2, then 3, etc. When they have graded a test from one student, they move on to the next student’s test. However, this method of grading—sequential grading—is slow because it requires graders to “context switch” in their mind from question to question. Worse, sequential grading introduces unconscious bias, as it is easy for graders to see whose test they are grading. The solution to these problems is block grading.
Block Grading
In block grading, teachers grade all students’ answers to question 1, then all students’ answers to question 2, etc. Since the grader only has to switch to a new question every thirty or so answers, the “mental block” of having to switch questions is removed. Block grading speeds up the grading process and anonymizes answers, removing any grading bias.
MarkSpace 0.1 Released
Today, we are proud to announce that the first public version of MarkSpace Grading Software has been released! MarkSpace is Libre (Free-as-in-Freedom) Software—I am making it freely available to all teachers, students, and anyone else who wants to use it. Although I created the software specifically for Mr. Friesen to use, I release it to the public in the hope that other teachers may find it useful.