We work closely with our customers to ensure that all the innovations that we deliver have a positive impact on their delivery. We recently spoke with Kevin Fleetham, Curriculum Manager at TICA to learn more about how the team is using the AI-powered marking aid from Aptem Enhance and the impact it has had on the organisation.

Has marking aid made an impact at TICA?

Marking aid has transformed how our tutors work. It’s cut the time it takes to mark exercises in half, and it’s taken away a huge amount of admin for both learners and tutors.

Can you explain how the marking process worked at your organisation before implementing marking aid?

Before, learners had to download, save, and reupload editable PDFs, and we often had issues with them trying to find their files on shared computers. For tutors, the process used to mean downloading each learner’s exercise, printing it, marking by hand, scanning it back in and uploading it again. That’s all gone now.

What has the feedback been from across TICA?

The feedback from tutors and learners has been really positive. Tutors like being able to give inline feedback directly in the system, and it’s helping us show Ofsted how we build English and Maths into our teaching and learning, and how we encourage learners to use technical terms correctly.

Are there any other benefits to marking aid that you’ve experienced since implementation?

It’s also made version control much easier. When a piece of work is referred back, there’s a clear record of previous submissions and feedback alongside the new version, which really helps everyone see progress.

What has your experience been of the AI?

The AI element has been impressive — it learns quickly, usually after just two or three exercises, and then really starts to speed up the marking process. Setting up an exercise takes about 15 minutes for a simple essay question, or up to an hour for something more complex with around 30 questions, but that setup time is more than outweighed by how much time tutors save on marking.

What would you say to anyone considering implementing AI-powered marking from Aptem Enhance?

I can’t recommend marking aid enough. It’s made the whole process of setting up and marking exercises more efficient and given tutors more time to focus on supporting learners.