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YMCA Awards shortlisted again for FAB Innovation of the Year award

YMCA Awards’ Y-Mark digital assessment platform is drawing plaudits from across the sector
4 August 2017

For the third year in a row, YMCA Awards has been shortlisted at the Federation of Awarding Bodies (FAB) Awards in the Innovation of the Year category.

The FAB Awards celebrate the best and brightest organisations in the awarding sector, and although we are confident that we should be considered amongst the major players, it is still a great privilege for YMCA Awards to have been shortlisted.

We have been nominated in the Innovation of the Year category for our now well-known Y-Mark digital assessment platform, which was developed so that our tutors could focus more of their time on teaching and helping learners, rather than on marking.

Y-Mark is a digital workbook with the ability to self-mark. It runs as an open-book assessment for learners which gives them immediate feedback on their progress, therefore saving our tutors' considerable time when compared to traditional worksheet assessment. By our calculations, Y-Mark saves tutors on average 25 minutes worth of marking per learner when compared to traditional marking by hand.

The ability of Y-Mark to give learners immediate feedback also saves them time as well, as they no longer have to sift through feedback notes and can receive the help they need there and then.

We at YMCA Awards are very proud of Y-Mark, and of the impact it’s having on the day-to-day learning experience of students across the country.

Our YMCA Awards Senior Product Manager, Vicky Mose said: “I’m really proud our team has been shortlisted in the Innovation of the Year category for our auto marking workbook – Y-Mark.

"We have won this award for the last 2 years and it would be great if we could do the ‘treble’
Vicky Mose, YMCA Awards Senior Product Manager

“Our customers are our best source of inspiration, if it wasn’t for their feedback and desire to use new and innovative teaching and learning materials we wouldn’t be challenged to keep finding them solutions.”

We are currently in the process of rolling out Y-Mark to all of our centres so that they can begin using it to support learners and so that we can continue to develop it in response to their real-world experience.

Creating such innovative and learner-focused products is part of what makes YMCA awards what it is. Integral to our mission at YMCA Awards is the fulfilment of our charity’s goal of helping young people lead happier, healthier and more fulfilling lives, and we are confident that Y-Mark can do just that by transforming their educational experience.

The Awards dinner itself will take place on the 19th October 2017, and we’ll certainly be having our fingers crossed that we win. The greatest prize of all though is knowing that we are having a positive impact on young people’s lives, and that we are helping them to achieve their goals and ambitions.

To find out more about Y-Mark and YMCA Awards, please visit our website or send us an email at awards.info@ymca.co.uk.

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