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Anonymous Grading in Brightspace:
To avoid unconscious bias in the grading and feedback process, instructors can configure assignments to use anonymous grading. When the feature is turned on, instructors see an anonymised learner name on the assignment. Learners can be assured that their submissions are assessed fairly.
Anonymous grading in Brightspace is initiated when creating an assignment submission folder (see video below). The Anonymous grading option is ticked at the bottom of the Properties tab in the assignment creation screen. Under Assessment – Assignments in the instructor view, any assignments set to allow for anonymous marking are indicated with the anonymous marking icon beside the assignment’s title. There is no indication to the student that anonymous marking is being used, so it is best to let students know. For the purpose of grading, students are listed as ‘anonymous user 1’, ‘anonymous user 2’ etc., and for multiple anonymous assignments unique anonymous ids are created.
A few things worth considering when deciding whether to use anonymous grading:
- Submitted documents can still be downloaded directly by instructors, so if any identifying information is included in the submission, anonymity of the process can be compromised
- After Publish All feedback has been clicked, the submissions are de-anonymised, the results are visible to students, but can always be hidden and edited
- Once submissions have been made to the assignment submission folder, the anonymity of the assignment is not lifted until Publish All feedback is click for the assignment
- While the anonymous grading feature allows instructors to grade anonymously, it doesn’t really restrict instructors to anonymous marking — as there are always ways of getting around it
Create an Anonymous Graded Assignment in Brightspace
Enable Anonymous Marking
Anonymous marking can be enabled when creating a new assignment submission folder. Anonymous marking can be enabled on an assignment submission folder with submissions, but cannot be disabled once assignment submissions are made.
- From the main module navigation, click Assignments.
- Click New Assignment.
- Complete all required fields.
- Under Anonymous Marking, ensure Hide student names during assessment is either selected or deselected.
- Click Save and Close.
Publish All Feedback
- Instructors can only publish anonymous marking using Publish All Feedback, to prevent identifying learners through selective anonymous marking feedback submission. Note that the Publish button is disabled on the submission page.
- The Assignments – Publish All Feedback button is enabled when at least one feedback is saved as a draft.
- Instructors can set up anonymous marking when creating an assignment. Instructors can also enable anonymous marking for assignment submission folders after they are created, but cannot disable the feature once submissions have been made.
- Instructors can publish feedback without completing feedback for all submissions. Clicking Publish All Feedback displays a confirmation dialog box indicating that some submissions will be published without feedback.
- After Publish All Feedback is selected the graded are visible to students, and the user names associated with anonymous submissions are revealed to instructors.
Once Publish All Feedback is selected for an assignment, student can see there grades for that assignment.
