Canada’s Innovation University Moves to Paperless Grading with Crowdmark

TORONTO, May 18, 2017 -- The University of Waterloo, one of North America’s leading research universities, marked the end of its April 2017 exam period by having four million paper-based assessments—enough to reach the top of the CN Tower--evaluated entirely online since partnering with the education technology company Crowdmark, Inc.

The University of Waterloo chose to partner with Crowdmark through a public RFP process in July 2015, following an extensive 12-month pilot.

Crowdmark serves 1,500 teaching staff and 26,000 undergraduate students across a variety of academic disciplines at the University of Waterloo each year. The platform is integrated with the University’s LMS, “Waterloo LEARN” providing all instructors across the university the ability to access and evaluate scanned assessments anytime and anywhere through a secure web browser.

“After using Crowdmark, a number of our instructors can’t imagine going back to grading by pen and paper,” said Steve Furino, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies in the Faculty of Mathematics, the only stand-alone faculty of its kind in North America. “Students also really like Crowdmark because it provides them with formative feedback directly on their exams and homework—like personalized comments, images, hyperlinks to outside resources—in less time it took to receive them the traditional way.”

Crowdmark’s success is also resulting in a number of physical changes at the University of Waterloo. The wooden drop-boxes that once filled the hallways are gradually disappearing as students are uploading their assignments and group projects with smartphones.

“We are proud to partner with University of Waterloo and appreciate their commitment to innovation in teaching and learning.” said James Colliander, CEO of Crowdmark. “Crowdmark usage has grown exponentially at Waterloo over the past three years.” 

About Crowdmark:
Crowdmark is the world’s premiere online grading and analytics platform, allowing educators to evaluate student assessments more effectively and securely than ever before. Founded in 2012 by Professor James Colliander and Martin Muñoz, Crowdmark serves over 15% of the full-time undergraduate population in Canada and is in use at over 30 post-secondary institutions across the world. Crowdmark allows educators to reduce grading time by more than 50%, providing students with prompt and formative feedback. This significantly enriches the learning and teaching experience for students and educators by transforming assessment into a dialogue for improvement.

Contact information
Michelle Caers, Chief Marketing Officer
[email protected]
www.crowdmark.com

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