Online marking a resounding success in SA
This has been incorporated for the marking of the Life Orientation (LO) Common Assessment, written by 11 500 matric students countrywide.
CSX Customer Services, a Metrofile Holdings company, a specialist solutions and support company, piloted the project for IEB.
Anne Oberholzer, Chief Executive Officer of the IEB, expressed satisfaction with the outcome.
She said as an independent assessment body, the organisation had the flexibility to create new and imaginative assessments or approaches that challenged both teaching practices and the way their learners process information.
Furthermore, IEB is able to explore new initiatives in the approach to examinations in South Africa with minimal disruption to the main system.
“By investigating the online marking system, the IEB has implemented a project that improves the reliability of marking and benefits teachers and students alike,” Oberholzer said.
Online marking has long been utilised by both Americas and the United Kingdom as well as some countries in Africa and the Caribbean.
CSX had successfully completed an online marking project in Namibia and was looking for a South African educational institution to evaluate the approach.
CSX Managing Director, Mario Martins, said the project was a resounding success.
“Not only did the pilot run exactly as expected, it has provided the IEB with an important opportunity to innovate and provide assistance to both teachers and students in the often daunting task of marking,” said Martins.
Some 131 teachers from across the country marked the examinations from a central marking centre provided by CSX and its sister-company, Global Continuity.
In the IEB project, printing and scanning was done at CSX’s secure facility and scanning of the 11 500 examination papers took only one day.
– CAJ News
