Comments are like footnotes: you insert a comment (which appears as a number in the text), and then type the message to the student. They are used when no pre-defined annotation can explain a problem in enough detail to be helpful. Comments are used when you have something more specific or detailed to say.Annotations can be positive as well as negative, and they can be divided into categories, and given "values" to indicate their relative importance. For example, if you see a spelling mistake in the text, you could mark it by clicking a pre-defined "Spelling Error" annotation button, rather than having to type "This is a spelling error". Annotations are inserted using a set of buttons on a movable button bar, which is displayed next to the main marking screen. Annotations are pre-defined ways of marking specific errors, or giving specific kinds of praise.Markin provides four different ways of adding marks to an essay text: You can also import work from any other application (eg text embedded in an email message) by Copying the text from the original program, and Pasting it into Markin. So if you have Word 2007, Markin will allow you to import any type of Word document, and if you have Excel, you can even import a spreadsheet into Markin. If you have any Microsoft Office programs installed on your computer (eg Word, Excel etc), Markin can also use the import filters associated with those programs. Markin allows you to import files in HTML, RTF or plain TXT formats.
There are two ways to import text into Markin: by importing the student's file directly, or by Pasting the student's text from the clipboard. When you have marked several pieces of work, you can use the program's comprehensive Statistics analyser to collate and compare marks from different students, or from different pieces of work by the same student.
Saving the marked work and returning it to the student.Marking the text using annotations, comments, and grades.The process of marking a piece of work using Markin has three stages:
You can even test out the program by downloading and installing the trial version from the download page. For a more comprehensive hands-on tutorial, you can see the Markin tutorial videos. This page gives a brief explanation of how the program works.