We hope you find this update useful and urge you to consider the implications for your institution. At the end of the article you will find a link to a recording of our recent webinar, demonstrating the new marking tool.
Work on the new marking tool has progressed over the summer months and has been available to customers for a few months. We are now launching the second part of the project which is an overhaul of the existing flow page for assessors. In July of this year, we launched the first element of the marking journey, a newly built page for assessors that holds information which was formerly split between the flow overview page and the marking overview. This new overview page will provide markers with a simplified marking journey with a single flow page overview and a tighter integrated marking experience. The marking tool will be embedded into this new overview page, creating a more seamless navigation between marking overview and assessment work.
Since the last update in May we have progressed in aligning functionality between the existing (legacy) and new marking tool. The new statistics module for FLOWmulti has made significant progress and two integral elements have been released. By the end of the year it will also be possible to export FLOWmulti statistics in-app and via the API, enabling institutions to create their own processes around statistics outside of WISEflow.
It is now also possible to use the new marking tool for flows that are assessed using rubric-based marking workflows.
With the upcoming October release, assessors will also be able to use a grade scaler on FLOWmulti flows where the sum of points/marks can be scaled into a final grade. It will also be possible to download participant submissions from FLOWmulti flows as PDF documents from within WISEflow. Towards the end of the year, the API will support the export of FLOWmulti submissions as well.
In December, the marking tool will also support navigation across flows that form part of a FLOWcombine and FLOWseries. This will enable assessors who are utilising the new marker journey to experience an improved visualisation and navigation between flows/participants for FLOWcombine and FLOWseries.
Also in December, support for FLOWoral will be released, bringing an improved overview and clarity to assessors with quicker support for both grading purposes and more elaborate processes of using rubrics, providing feedback and sequence of flows (FLOWcombine). Assessors will be able to see an overview of the periods associated with them on the flow page. They will also be able to apply grades directly on a time slot in the period as well as use the new marker tool with a simplified FLOWoral version.
We would also like to share a provisional timeframe concerning the deprecation of what we are now describing as the legacy marking tool.
Deprecation of the legacy marking tool
With the final features and functionalities to be released by the beginning of 2025, we are happy that the new marking tool will be providing the same functionality as the legacy marking tool, meaning that most workflows will be reflected in the new marking journey. We previously listed exceptions of functionality that will no longer be supported by the new marking tool in our last status update.
As development will conclude in the first quarter of 2025, we are looking at the following tentative deprecation plan for the legacy marking tool.
Beginning of 2025
- All archived flows are converted to the new marking tool. The goal is to make it possible to convert all marking work into being available in the new marking journey, where we will be able to switch and convert an ongoing flow into the new marking journey without losing data. Participants will be able to see the same feedback as before, but in the context of the improved new marking journey summary instead.
Spring 2025
- Newly created flows will automatically be set up with the new marking journey, meaning that both the new marking tool and assessor page will be shown as a default. Participants will also review their feedback via the new feedback page.
- A flow can optionally be configured to use the legacy marking tool instead by the flow manager. This will then default to the legacy marking tool and marking overview. This will be possible for a transition period of 6 months.
Autumn 2025
- All flows will be using the new marking journey without the ability to opt out.
- It will no longer be possible to access or enable the legacy marking tool.
- All flow and submission comments, as well as annotations that were created in the legacy marking tool, will be converted to be displayed in the new marking tool.
With the new marking tool and journey becoming the new standard by the end of 2025, we will also deprecate the demo flow available to assessors. We are currently exploring different options of providing assessors with a demo of the new marking tool and will provide an update once we have settled on a way forward.
Webinar Demonstration
UNIwise recently held a live webinar during which we demonstrated the new marking tool. Please follow the link below to the recording.