How do I use the ‘Moderation Agreement’ to moderate a sample of submissions in a Coursework activity?

Depending on your progamme, you may be asked to use the ‘Moderation Agreement’ column in your Coursework activity to moderate a sample of the submissions in the assessment dropbox. While using the ‘Moderation Agreement’ is not required it is a useful feature in the Coursework activity that can be used to streamline moderation and related comments so they appear alongside marks and feedback.

Getting ready for moderation

Moderation of submissions should occur after all provisional marks and feedback have been saved. Once the first marker has finalised their mark and feedback for a submission, the Moderate button will appear in the ‘Moderation Agreement’ column in the assessment dropbox. You will not need to enable ‘Moderation Agreement’ in the Coursework activity settings as it will be automatically enabled on deployment of the activity.

To start the moderation process in a Coursework activity you will first need to complete the following steps.

1. Allow a moderator’s access to a module (Moderators should be enrolled with the ‘Coursework Internal Moderator‘ role via the ‘Participants’ screen of your course in addition to a teaching role on the course). If the moderators are not enrolled please use these instructions to enrol them correctly.
2. Choose the sample of submissions that will be included in the moderation process based on your programme’s guidelines for sampling. If you need advice on how to best identify the individual sample submissions to communicate to your moderators please see our guidance.

Once a provisional mark and feedback have been finalised, the Moderate button will appear in the ‘Moderation Agreement’ column. The moderator and first marker can use this button to communicate feedback and agree marks.

If the ‘Moderation Agreement’ is being used as an official record of a moderation discussion held in another forum or format, Steps 1 and 2 below will only need to be taken once (i.e. for the Moderator to comment and the First Marker to respond).

Step 1: What the moderator should do

1. Find the Coursework activity in the Assessment section of your module.
2. Find the submission in the dropbox and click the button ‘Moderate‘ under the ‘Moderation Agreement’ column.
3. Click Moderate to open the moderation agreement window (it will be a pop-up).
4. In the moderation agreement it will list your name as the moderator’s name at the top next to ‘Moderator’.
   • The moderator of record in this case is determined by who is signed-in when the Moderate button is selected.
   • If you are the first individual who changes and saves the moderation agreement as the ‘Moderator’, you will remain listed as the moderator regardless of subsequent revisions.
5. Next to ‘Moderation agreement’ choose either ‘Agreed’ or ‘Disagreed’ to indicate if you (as the moderator) agree or disagree with the first marker’s provisional mark.
6. Next to ‘Comment’ add any additional feedback or commentary necessary (i.e. your reasoning for agreeing or disagreeing the mark, any comments on the student’s work and points on the first marker’s feedback style as required).
7. Click ‘Save‘.
8. Once you click ‘Save’ an Information pop-up will show ‘Moderation agreement saved’, click OK to dismiss the pop-up and then click ‘Close‘ (to the right of the Save button).
9. You (as the moderator) should then communicate the decision to the first marker (i.e. via email or other agreed process).

Step 2: What the first marker should do after the moderation

If you are not required to ‘agree’ a mark

Depending on the programme, moderation may not require that the moderator and the first marker agree on a single mark. If the moderation process does not require full agreement on a mark or a full second marking process, moderation can be considered complete after the moderator enters their comments and the module leader can proceed to the next steps to upload marks and/or release marks.

If you are required to ‘agree’ a mark or to complete a full second marking process

If the moderation process is required to result in both the moderator and first marker ‘agreeing’ on a mark, the ‘Moderation Agreement’ can be a useful place retain an official record of moderation discussions. The moderation agreement comment section can be used to hold asynchronous discussions and come to an agreement. Yet, if discusssions are held in another forum, after a mark is agreed then the ‘Moderation Agreement’ can be used as an ‘official record’ where the first marker adds the results of the discussion after initial moderation has taken place.

The first marker can following the following steps to access the moderation agreement and add their response to the moderator.

1. Find the Coursework activity in the Assessment section of your module.
2. Find the submission in the dropbox and click the button ‘Moderate‘ under the ‘Moderation Agreement’ column.
3. Click Moderate to open the moderation agreement window (it will be a pop-up).
4. In the moderation agreement it will include the moderator’s name at the top of the screen and immediately underneath the information on ‘Last edited by‘ which will include the name of the editor (ideally the first marker) and a time and date stamp.
5. In the ‘Comment’, add your name beneath the moderation comment as a subheading for your response (i.e. ‘First Marker’s response) and then add any feedback or suggestions for whether and how the mark will be adjusted or changed.
6. Next to ‘Moderation agreement’ choose either ‘Agreed’ or ‘Disagreed’ to indicate that you and the moderator have come to an agreement.
7. Click ‘Save‘.
8. Once you click ‘Save’ an Information pop-up will show ‘Moderation agreement saved’, click OK to dismiss the pop-up and then click ‘Close‘ (to the right of the Save button).

If the ‘Moderation Agreement’ is being used as an official record of an aysnchronous moderation discussion Steps 1 and 2 can be repeated more than once until an agreement is reached. Do make sure that with each new comment added that a subheading is included (for example ‘First Marker’s reponse’ or your initials) as the ‘Last edited by’ notation will only record the last edit and not the whole set of edits.