Understanding Marking in Nimbu

Marking in Nimbu is the process by which student submissions are reviewed, graded, and finalised to produce a competency outcome. It is designed to give Trainers full visibility and control over student results while reducing administrative effort through intelligent automation.

Whether you are evaluating a written assessment, observing a student's practical skills, or finalising a unit result, Nimbu provides a structured, auditable workflow that supports both compliance requirements and quality teaching practice.

What's Covered in This Article

This article explains how marking works across the different activity types in Nimbu and how each stage of the workflow connects.

• Marking Workflow Overview: How a submission moves from student to final result.
• Assessment Marking vs. Observation Marking: The key differences between the two activity types.
• Question-Level Marking vs. Final Result: Understanding the two distinct stages of the marking process.
• Auto-Marked vs. Manually Marked Questions: Which question types are graded by the system and which require trainer input.
• Marking Statuses Explained: A reference guide to every status used throughout the marking lifecycle.

Marking Workflow Overview

When a student submits an assessment or observation, it moves through the following stages before a final result is recorded.

1. Student Submits: The student completes and submits their activity. The submission enters the marking queue and is visible to the Trainer in the Marking section.
2. System Auto-Marks: For assessments containing auto-marked question types (True/False, Multiple Choice, Selection), the system evaluates answers immediately and records a result for each. These do not require Trainer intervention.
3. Trainer Marks Manually: Any Short Answer or Online Submission questions require the Trainer to review the student's response and assign a result. Trainers work through these in the question screens within Marking.
4. Trainer Reviews Summary: Once all questions are marked, the Trainer navigates to the Summary screen to review the full submission, including auto-marked results before finalising.
5. Trainer Sets Final Result: The Trainer selects either Satisfactory (S) or Not Satisfactory (NS) as the final outcome for the activity. Optional feedback and file attachments can be added before submitting.
6. Student Notified: The student receives an in-app notification and email with their result and any feedback provided.
7. Unit Result Finalised: Once all required activities in a unit are complete, the unit result is calculated. If the Require Trainer to Set Final Result Manually setting is enabled by the Admin, the Trainer must also manually confirm the unit's competency outcome before it is recorded.

Trainer Activation: If an activity has been configured with Trainer Activation Required, the Trainer must activate the activity for the student before it becomes accessible. Activation can include setting a read-only period, open time, and due date. See Trainer Activation for more detail.

Assessment Marking vs. Observation Marking

While both assessments and observations follow the same general marking workflow, there are important differences in how each is structured and marked.

Observations: Trainer vs. Student Questions

Observations in Nimbu can contain two distinct question types by role:

• Student Questions (Checklist, Short Answer, Online Submission): completed by the student and submitted for marking.
• Trainer Questions: completed by the Trainer during or after an observation session. These do not require student input and are available to the Trainer immediately upon class activation.

An observation that contains only Trainer Questions is called a Trainer Observation. Resubmission features do not apply to Trainer Observations, as there is no student submission to return.

Question-Level Marking vs. Final Result

Marking in Nimbu operates at two distinct levels. Understanding the difference is important for Trainers to navigate the workflow correctly.

Question-Level Marking

This is the first stage, where the Trainer reviews and grades individual questions within a submission.

• Auto-marked questions (True/False, Multiple Choice, Selection) are graded by the system immediately upon submission. Results are visible on both the question screen and the Summary.
• Manually marked questions (Short Answer, Online Submission) require the Trainer to open each question, review the student's response, and assign a result of S (Satisfactory) or NS (Not Satisfactory) with optional feedback.
• For assessments, the Trainer can also mark the "Student to Resubmit" checkbox on individual NS questions to flag them for a selected-questions resubmission request.

Final Result

Once question-level marking is complete, the Trainer navigates to the Summary screen to assign the overall outcome for the activity.

• The Trainer selects either Satisfactory or Not Satisfactory as the final result.
• At this stage, the Trainer can also add overall feedback and attach a file before submitting.
• If the Trainer chooses to request a resubmission instead of finalising, they can do so from the Summary screen before a final result is set.
• Once a final result is submitted, the activity status updates immediately and the student is notified.

Remark: If a Trainer needs to correct a result after it has been finalised, the Remark feature allows them to re-open a completed activity (S or NS) and re-mark it. A reason is required when initiating a remark. Note that the Request Revisions option is not available during an active remark.

Auto-Marked vs. Manually Marked Questions

Nimbu automates marking for objective question types, reducing the manual workload for Trainers and providing students with faster feedback on knowledge-based tasks.

Auto-Marked Questions

These question types are graded instantly by the system based on the correct answer defined during content setup. No Trainer action is required.

• Incorrect or unanswered auto-marked questions are automatically recorded as NS (Not Satisfactory).
• Correct answers are recorded as S (Satisfactory).
• If all questions in an assessment are auto-marked and all answers are correct, the submission is automatically finalised without requiring Trainer action.

Assessment Attempt Limits: Auto-marked questions are subject to attempt limit settings. If a student reaches their maximum attempts, the assessment is automatically submitted regardless of the result.

Manually Marked Questions

These question types require a Trainer to review the student's unique response and assign a result.

Status Indicators

Nimbu uses a consistent set of status indicators across activities and enrolments. The following reference table covers all statuses a Trainer or student may encounter throughout the marking lifecycle.

Activity Statuses (Assessment & Observation)

Unit Enrolment Statuses

Related Articles

• What is an Assessment?
• What is a Practical Observation?
• Marking Dashboard