1. Report on Tablet PC use on A815 MA English Hannah Lavery, Open University R07

2. [… Useful to post whiteboards to forum afterwards as a summary (and for students unable to attend)] F2f tutorial

3. Translation ‘if the main aim is to admit the reader into the world and discourse of the source’ translator should be inconspicuous assumption of ‘plain English’ as capable of translating the sense of the original priority/ power given to source -> evaluative words like ‘accuracy’ or ‘fidelity’ What is the alternative? […Helpful to use as whiteboard to record full group discussion]

4. [The flatscreen was useful to record student use during small group work. I used this to progress the exercise online, after the tutorial (the elusive ‘blending’!)]

12. Feedback from students I asked: ‘ During the year you have had experience of my marking using just track comments, and then later scripts marked with a mixture of track comments and handwritten comments. What are the positives and negatives of these different approaches, do you think? ’

13. I preferred the way you marked the papers using track comments - you still added comments/corrections in the margin and if there was more to say this was done on the front assessment page. I found it easier to read when typed. I like both. Obviously handwritten comments can be difficult to read, and the writer has to take time to be clear. I prefer track comments as they accurately pinpoint and are easier to read. I had difficulty reading the handwriting in the last TMA, but the earlier ones were OK. It is weird to see handwritten comments after so many years of typed feedback. I quite like seeing the mix of types, but still prefer the comments bubbles as they tend to contain more information.

14. Personally I think tablet PC would help in marking - handwritten and comment tracking allows you the tutor to point to the error or to the part of the essay in question and comment on it… It is well to summarise the improvements in the end, but we can't sit together and go through the essay and receive face-to-face feedback on which paragraph or line the issue lay in, so I feel that tracking and handwritten comments help best in this situation. The way you have been providing feedback for the last two TMAs seem perfect to me. It is so useful to see comments annotated in bubbles down the side on the assignments together with the detailed overall advice supplied. Whether or not, from a student's point of view, handwritten notes will help I suppose depends on two factors. Firstly, whether the annotation required is a simple point and is clearer when made by hand for example changing the grammatical form of a word e.g. transpired to transpiring and secondly, whether or not the marker's handwriting is clear! For lengthy comments in situ on the assignment, I think I would prefer typewritten in a bubble in the margin, to handwritten. As stated, whatever method you have been using lately, seems perfect to me.