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Well I don't do marking any more and I've lost 32lb since April and 46lb since 2 years ago. Any correlation do you think? Best wishes Sally Brown [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> On 25 Sep 2017, at 14:31, BLAND TOMKINSON <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote: The original question was “Is there a correlation between the number of chocolate biscuits that I consume and the mark that I give when marking Masters’ dissertations?” However, monitoring the first few that I have been marking suggested that the results were likely to be little better than random –bang goes another theory (and an opportunity to bid for a research study using a bigger number of markers and a huge volume of chocolate biscuits). However, I have noticed that there are some triggers for reaching for the chocolate. The obvious one is a dissertation written in poor English: perhaps the less obvious one is that I reach for the biscuits more frequently when marking online – at the moment one course is marked entirely online and the other has online scripts some of which I have printed out) but offline marking forms. (This wasn’t helped when BlackBoard refused to give me access to the courses!) What concerns me more is that I spend less time marking a dissertation online than I do with a paper copy. Doubtless Jo Johnson (and the university) would tell me that this is because it is more efficient, but I have a strong suspicion that not only is marking online more stressful (evidenced by chocolate biscuits) but also less reliable. After all, I could make the system really “efficient” and resort to random number tables – that would make the whole process less time-consuming, if somewhat unreliable. Does anyone else have assessment-induced cravings (I notice that my coffee consumption also goes up)? Does anyone else feel that marking online is less reliable (is there any research data)? Any scope for a research bid? Bland C Bland Tomkinson BSc BA MEd PFHEA FAUA Visiting Lecturer, University of Manchester Special Consultant, South East University, Nanjing Associate Editor, HERD Co-Editor, IETI To view the terms under which this email is distributed, please go to:- http://disclaimer.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/disclaimer/disclaimer.html