Blackboard Assignment – Two marker function

The Two markers per student function in Blackboard Assignment allows for a workflow which requires submissions to be reconciled, or second marked, before being available to post to students. This function is sometimes referred to a parallel marking.

• Restrictions
• Enable Two markers per student
• Mark and reconcile workflow

Restrictions

Disabled assignment functions

When Two markers per student is selected in the Assignment settings the following functions will be disabled.

• Peer Review
• Delegated Marking
• Group Assignments
• Enable Turnitin – therefore a Turnitin Similarity Report can not be generated.

Rubrics

Rubrics can be enabled but there are some restrictions:

• The rubric calculated mark can not overridden by the marker or reconciler until they have been posted and are visible to students.
• The rubric will not be seen by anyone other than the marker using it.
  • Other markers can not see your completed rubric
  • The reconciler will see the score but not the rubric
  • Students will only see their marks once they are posted by the reconciler and will not see either of the markers rubrics.
  • The reconciler will have to use the rubric if one is attached and cannot override the mark.

Marking workflow limitations

The designated roles work in a way that may not suit your preferred workflow.

• Each student will have two markers and a reconciler (unless just one marker is assigned)
  • you can add more markers but the system will distribute the student amongst the assigned markers evenly so that each student has two markers.
• It is only possible to be a marker or a reconciler at any given time in the workflow – not both
• Reconcilers can view the marks and feedback given by the markers but not the annotations or rubric.
• Only reconcilers give final mark and can post marks – markers do not have this ability
• Once the final marks have been posted markers can only see those final marks and feedback – they can not access their evaluations to edit them.
• Students only see the mark and feedback and rubric from the reconciler
• The reconciler can see the markers feedback so could cut and paste comments from markers into their final feedback.

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Workflow	Possible?	Comments
One or multiple markers one Reconciler	Yes	Recommended – you can have multiple markers but the system will assign only two per student.
One or multiple markers – multiple reconcilers	Yes	Making an administrator a reconciler will give them access to the marking details and markers comments
Markers only	Yes	The set up will warn you that you have not assigned a reconciler – but will allow you to save. Without a reconciler you can not provide a final grade.
Reconcilers only	Yes	The set up will warn you that you have not assigned a marker – but will allow you to save. Without a marker all reconcilers will be adding feedback to the same text box. Student will see all comments added to this space.
One or multiple markers – then one or more change to reconcilers	Yes	If a marker is unassiged or their role is changed the mark and feedback will remain.  Only reconcilers can see markers marks and feedback

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Enable Two markers

It is possible to enable Two makers per student when setting up the submission point or by editing the submission point. It is still possible to enable Two markers per student when submissions have been made to the submission point.

• Step 1: Select Two Marks per student
• Step 2: Assign Markers and Reconcilers
• Step 3: Save assigned roles

Step 1: Select Two markers per student

Go to the Blackboard Assignment settings panel, locate the Evaluation Options and select Two markers per student.

• Once selected the other options under Evaluation options will grey out.
• You will now need to click Assign markers (a) to complete the set up
• If you attempt to save without assigning markers a warning message will prompt you to assign markers.

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Step 2: Assign markers and reconcilers

Click Assign Markers, this will take you to the a Assign Markers screen where you can assign roles to staff enrolled on the course.

Please note: Some of the course roles (instructor, teaching assistant etc.) will assign users to a role by default. You can un-assign these users and either leave them unassigned or assign them to a new role.

There are three categories to assign users to:

• Unassigned (b) – not involved in marking
• Markers (c) – first marker
• Reconcilers (d) – This role allows you

Assign any users in the Unassigned list as a Mark or a Reconciler using the three dot menu next to their name.

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Change an assigned role

If an instructor is appearing as a reconciler or a marker and you wish to change them:

• Use the three dot menu to Unassign them (d).
• They will then be added to the Unassigned list (b).
• For any users in the unassigned list use the three dot menu to assignment them to either a Marker or Reconciler.

Alternatively you can use the Unassign All Reconcilers link.

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How many markers can you assign

You can assign a number of markers but each student will only be assigned two markers. The system with distribute students evenly among the markers to achieve two markers per student.

Markers can only open submissions for the students assigned to them.

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Step 3: Save assigned roles

Once you are happy with the arrangement of Unassigned, Markers and Reconcilers, click save.

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You will be able to return to this page via the assignment settings to check how the markers/reconcilers have been set up. You will also be able to change the markers and reconcilers without affecting the marks and feedback they have provided.

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Marking and Reconciling workflow

1. Mark – all markers can provide marks and feedback to each of the student’s submissions (this is only visible to the Reconciler)
2. Reconcile – with the ability to view marks and feedback from all markers the reconciler gives the final mark
3. Post – when all submissions are marked the Programme Administrator will post the marks on the feedback release date.

Mark

Once the deadline has passed any assigned Markers will begin to mark.

• Marker 1 marks (multiple marker 1’s are possible – if more than two they will be distributed evenly to provide each student with 2 markers)
• Marker 2 (assigned the Reconciler role) views marks and feedback – provides a final mark and feedback – this is the only feedback the student will see

As a marker 1 your role is to provide marks and feedback for the reconciler, students will not see the feedback, although the reconciler may choose to cut and paste your comments. No one (including reconcilers) will see the annotations or rubric provided by a marker.

The marker will have access to the submissions in a slightly altered marking screen.

• Submission details (e)
• Annotating tools (f)
• Add feedback using the text editor via text, attachments, or audio. (g)
• Add the mark (h)
• Move to the next student to mark (I)

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• The marker can only see the marks and feedback they provide, not that of any other marker.
• The marker’s marks and feedback will only be visible to the reconciler (and unassigned staff roles)

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Reconcile

When marks have been added by markers for individual students they will show as needs reconciling in the Gradebook of the assigned Reconciler.

Reconcile using

• the “Reconcile All” link in the top banner or
• Open the individual’s attempt

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You can add the marks directly into the pill field (h).

To view the markers feedback or add the final feedback click on any of the feedback icons (i).

Please note – students will only see feedback added by the reconciler.

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It is possible to use a rubric but please be aware that you can not override marks in a Rubric when using anonymity.

Post

When all the submissions have been marked and reconciled the Programme Administrators can post the marks to make them visible to students.

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Guide last updated on January 22, 2025