I started to mark students work (summatively) for the first time during the summer. Having two hats, a technical and an academic one, and the ease of which I switched between them really got the old cogs turning. It kept bringing me back to one question:

Why are technicians not included in the marking process?

This was the catalyst to the start of my SIP. I wanted to find answers to this question. Doing both roles I could really see how the experience of each was feeding into my marking process. My face to face contact time with the students in the studios watching them work, the informal chats, the formative assessments as a Technician. Then the more formal ‘group crits’ and 1 to 1s as an academic. All adding up to much fuller picture of students progress, rather than just relying on what they submit for assessment. I don’t think I would have been so comfortable marking the work had I not had as full a picture as I had, thanks to both roles.

It also got me thinking about the purpose and focus of marking. How valued are these technical spaces where the lions share of the work is physically made? Where do they come into the marking process? Is there enough focus on the journey as well as the end product? Where is the humanity in the marking process?

The more I thought about it the more I realised I was coming at the question with a rather biased mind set. I was starting with a negative. I needed to turn the question around and open it up a bit. I cant decide the answer to the question before I have asked it. Trying to think more subjectively about the subject, I changed the question:

Should technicians be involved in the marking process?

I started thinking how can I find this out. I knew straight away that I wanted to include the voices of Academic staff, Technical staff and students within this study as I feel they are key sources to grappling with the question and their variety of views will hopefully build depth and credibility to my question. Still unsure as to how I will go about asking them.

I am interested in a more cohesive and transparent teaching approach, a learning community where academics and technical expertise are equally valued, which will ultimately benefit students.   In my thoughts I keep returning to some themes: role of the technician and academic, the hierarchies within HE and the division/disparity between those departments and how they are run within the university as separate groups.