Moderation

talent provides a moderation service in order to provide users with a supply of resources that are guaranteed to be easy for both teachers and learners to use, accurate and based on sound pedagogy.

talent moderates resources that are held within the talent database to ensure quality.

A group of specialist moderators aim for each resource to be:

· Easy for the teacher to use
· Easy for the learner to use
· Accurate
· Based on sound pedagogy
· Easy for a user to ‘find’

1) Pending Moderation
This is a resource that is waiting to be moderated.

2) Moderated – edits pending
This is a resource that has been moderated and it is felt by talent that edits are required. Talent will have contacted the creator regarding the edits.

3) Moderated
This is a resource that has been fully moderated by talent.

4) External resources refers to a situation where only the information on the resources is held on the talent web site accompanied by a link. These resources are not part of the moderation process.

Talent moderators consider:

1) Content

This will entail very different requirements for very different resources. For example, a downloadable piece of software may require detailed technical instructions, a paper-based game may involve detailed teacher instructions and a fill in the gap worksheet may only require a learning objective and a curriculum reference.

Thus there are no set rules as to appropriate content. However a series of templates are provided by the talent web site for people to work from and you may find these useful to look at. These templates encourage people to include the following information as standard either within the resource itself or in the accompanying information:

Title

Learning Objective

Instructions

Attribution (author / organisation)

Curriculum Reference

It is left to the discretion of the moderator as to whether the above information is required to achieve the talent aims.

2) Layout

See the talent accessibility section and the guidelines for writing content for the web [insert links]

Again there are no set rules and contributors are not expected to meet all the suggestions in the accessibility section. However, if in the moderators opinion certain changes would improve ease of teacher / learner use, these should be suggested e.g. changes to a red / green colour scheme; better spacing or more pictures/icons.

3) Accuracy

In the case of classroom resources and teacher support resources, the moderator will check to ensure accuracy of the tasks and any answers provided, as well as spelling and wording. In the case of reference articles, it is assumed that the factual content provided has already been subject to appropriate checks, however moderators will check spelling and wording.

4) Functionality
This largely applies to e-learning resources. The moderator will check technical instructions, menus, navigation systems, help sections etc. to ensure that the e-learning resource is fully functional.

5) Subject specific knowledge

Moderators will provide contributors with constructive feedback based on their experience of the subject area and knowledge of pedagogy. Some examples may include:
a. Changing vocabulary used in learner instructions because it may be too difficult for the level of the target learner
b. Advising on more scaffolding between activities to support learner progress
c. Clarifying that the resource maps to the correct level or curriculum reference

6) Copyright

The contributor takes full responsibility that everything that they have submitted is their own original work, that the teaching materials have not been copied wholly or substantially from any other work or material and that by uploading the resource to talent they have not infringed the rights of any third party. However should a moderator have any concerns regarding copyright they will remove the resource from public view and contact the contributor for clarification.

7) Accompanying information submitted

The contributor is asked to provide the following information to accompany the resource:
· Resource category (Classroom resource/Teaching Support Resource/Reference)
· Resource type e.g. paper based worksheet
· Subject
· Level
· Curriculum reference
· Title
· Description including topic, skills covered and forms/structures practiced
· Learning context (community / vocational / Further Education)
· Suggested use
· Technical information (optional)

This information is required to facilitate users who are searching for resources using the talent search engine or other external search engines. Moderators will check this information too and where a straightforward edit is required such as correction of a spelling mistake or clarification of a point, the moderator will undertake the edit without troubling the contributor. However if the moderator feels more significant changes are required they will contact the contributor.