• If you need a Blackboard account for your external examiner, please log a ticket with ISS (https://servicedesk.nuigalway.ie) under the category “01. Access to IT Services -> Request Access -> Temporary Account – External Examiner (T)” and provide start and end dates for the T-account to be valid between.
• You will then be provided with the T-account login details (account number and password) which must be communicated to the external examiner in a secure fashion (e.g. over the phone).
• Once the T-account has been created you will also need to give that T-account access the relevant module(s) in Blackboard, typically using the role of Marker.

Find out how to add the external examiner account to your Blackboard module.

One way of providing External Examiners (who have been added to the  Blackboard course as Markers) with easy access to all the relevant  materials is by creating a separate content area. This section should  remain hidden from students by ensuring the left-hand menu option has a  white box with a slash through it. Under no circumstances make the  section visible to students.

You should try to include as much as possible in this section, to avoid  the need for External Examiners to have to hunt through Blackboard  course content. For example, the following information may need to be uploaded:

• Module Study Guide or Course Outline
• Assessment details and marking criteria (if not in the module study guide)
• Details of marking sample/rubrcis
• Sample student work and feedback (if not online submission)
• Module Report.

When added to a Blackboard course as a Marker, the External Examiner  will have access to the Grade Centre and will be able to see all student  work submitted online. He or she may, however, need guidance as to  where to go to view students' summative work and  feedback. You may wish to simplify matters by creating a Smart View in the Grade Centre, containing only the relevant columns and a suitable selection of  students' work to review.​

For help with creating Smart Views see the Blackboard help site.

In Turnitin, you can download GradeMark papers (i.e. including markers'  comments) as a zip file and upload them to your hidden External Examiner folder, or you can use FileSender these to the External Examiner. You  could download the papers for the whole class or selected students.