How Anonymous Grading Can Streamline Online Assessments

When it comes to virtual exams, maintaining integrity is about more than simply deterring people from cheating. It’s about finding ways to make the process easier, faster, and more effective for assessors. This is where anonymous grading comes into play.

Understanding How It Works

Anonymous grading isn’t unique to online tests. With in-person settings, for example, it could involve something like taking apart paper-based assessments, removing any identifying information, and giving out individual sets of pages to a group of markers. Working together in the same room, each marker would handle a question before passing the exam on. Once the process is complete, tests would be reassembled and the final scores calculated.

The good news is that technology can make anonymous grading easier—streamlining the process, eliminating the hassles that come with handling mountains of paper, and protecting student privacy. Here’s what that could look like:

Step #1

After test-takers complete the assessment, personal identifying information can be removed and stored separately. A unique tracking code, something like a QR code, can then be applied to the rest of the document.

Step #2

The platform can take care of breaking the assessment down into individual questions. Markers can choose to grade all the questions themselves or in collaboration with others. Each person can mark different answers simultaneously, from anywhere, and without knowing the identity of the test-taker.

Step #3

Once the markers are done, the platform can bring all the grades together and calculate the results.

Step #4

Instructors can distribute assessments, marks, and comments through the LMS to create quick, fair feedback loops.

The Benefits of Digitally Enabled Anonymous Grading

Anonymous grading can help provide better outcomes for learners, instructors, and the organization because:

• Test-takers can receive results faster so they know the areas in which they’re excelling and areas where they can improve.
• A lot of logistical needs can be automatically taken care of for instructors and markers, enabling them to spend more time working with learners.
• The process is more flexible for markers because they no longer need to be together in the same physical space.
• Anonymous grading gives instructors access to data they can leverage to get insights into the performance of their marking teams.
• For the organization, the process demonstrates a commitment to fairness and integrity.

Ultimately, it’s about improving experiences for instructors, markers, and learners—making it easier to deliver meaningful feedback more quickly—while maintaining high standards of integrity.

Online proctoring can help you break down geographic barriers and make examinations more flexible—without sacrificing security or standards. Check out our recent blog to learn more about it.