Being-in-the-world-of-marking: New academics’ experiences of assessment & feedback

For a novice academic, the first experience of marking can be as memorable as preparing for and giving the first teaching session. Yet, while academic reflections and narratives abound for the latter,there is a paucity of literature regarding the former. This study begins to address this lack of literature through an exploration of six newly appointed academics’ experiences as they mark students’ coursework. The concept of being-in-the-world-of-marking demonstrates conceptually their experiences as they began to come to know themselves as markers and academics; not through the learning of facts about marking, but through their understanding and self-interpretation of their own and others’ marking practices. The experiences shared in this paper support and further develop previous research findings, highlighting a need for additional training, guidance and reinforcing the necessity to offer newly appointed academics formal and informal mentorship in the theory and practice of assessment. Keywords Transition; socialisation; newly appointed academics; assessment and feedback