E-Marking Trip to Karachi 2019

Report E-Marking trip to Karachi 2019

To: The Principal Nusrat Jahan College Rabwah

From: Ata-ul-Ghani Tahir

Subject: E-Marking Session 2019 [I feel cyberly harrested]

Apprehensive of new experience we started our journey from Sadr Anjuman building. We were about twenty people, the journey was off to a bumpy start since we were travelling in a rickety coaster bus which got punctured near Lahore and we had to make a little stop. Reaching Lahore station in time we boarded the train 'Jinnah Express’ and as the train journeys go it was one of the best since the train was clean and air-conditioning was working better than expected. Moreover, there was some decent food service as well. Getting off on the Karachi station was a different story as the 75% humidity and 40 Celsius heat hit us like a bolt and for a few minutes, it felt like we could not breathe. Things got a little better when we reached our place of stay.

The very next day we were supposed to start our e-Marking sessions. We got there before time and introduced ourselves. The staff was very cordial and supervisor Ms Sania signed us into our work stations gave us our id's and with the simple and brief introduction, we started our e-marking session. The environment was very professional and quiet with nicely air-conditioned lab and 6 terminals of 6 workstations each, there were approximately 40 e-markers and senior e-markers working at the same time. The software we were working on was simple and intuitive so the work went without any hitches.

Each shift was four hours long during which we had a 15 minutes tea break and if we were to work a double shift they gave us a lunch break and food stamp as well. punctuality was strictly followed thanks to our supervisor Sahiba. Be it staff or senior markers all were very professional and friendly at the same time. That made the task at hand like a breeze. The first day or two was very exciting since everything was new to us but then as we got used to of the surroundings and constantly looking at the screens took its toll and the task grew tedious and harrowing by the hour. We did some double shifts and fighting the ensuing sleep was the biggest fight during that time.

Efficiency was the foremost quality of the system, I was amazed at my own speed and efficacy as I was a very slow checker previously and now I think in the future I would be able to mark the papers more effectively. We learned a lot through the e-marking system, like how to apply the marking scheme efficiently and the timer helped us stay on track when our eyes grew heavy by reading the same kind of answers time and again. The system was quite efficient, I was amazed at my own pace that I got checked so many questions in each session since checking papers is the most dismal part of the teaching profession. 

One professional hazard of being a language teacher and marking papers that (IMO) we all suffered from was that we lost all sense of spelling and grammar (I think a new term should be coined for this syndrome pr phobia) and I often started second and third guessing even the correct spellings and sentence structure. It felt as if we might not recover from it ever but thanks to Almighty Allah I have been recovering from the after-effects of marking papers and I can only pray that may Allah grant me the strength to escape these marking sessions unscathed and with a sound mind.

Suggestions:

As efficient as the system was, it felt that the system needs some minor updates, first of all even mouse wheel didn’t work in the software and zooming options were quite constraining because unlike other subjects extended responses in English compulsory were up to 4 pages long and we had to read it extensively to look for stylistic errors. As technology is developing it would be a lot better if anti-glare screens or tablets are used it would be mighty helpful for the e-markers because some are elderly and some have eye-sight problems or perhaps it could help with the sleepless nights. Other than that the overall behaviour and attitude of people over, there were very professional, courteous and progressive.