Swiping Right on Assessment: Mobile-First Lessons for RM Compare

By Mark House

What can a dating app teach us about assessment? Quite a lot, as it turns out. The dramatic difference in decision time across platforms, is at the heart of RM Compare’s mobile-first transformation. It’s also a bridge - built by research - that connects traditional marking assumptions to the new realities of digital assessment.

The Decision Time Gap: Charting the Efficiency Advantage

The time it takes for Judges to make a decision between 2 items is an important metric in calculating workload. For this reason it has been of considerable interest in the field for many years. Recent research by Buckley and Zhu (2025) has indicated that time to judgement could be significantly lower than previous estimates. However, the experience in consumer products such as dating apps points to even faster judgements. Understanding what is going on here is a major focus for the RM Compare product team. Some numbers -

Buckley’s Key Learnings: Rethinking Old Assumptions

Jeffrey Buckley’s 2025 research is pivotal in helping us bridge from “what we always thought” about judging to “what works”.

  • Speed does not equal lower reliability: Buckley proved that expert judges make consistent, quality decisions intuitively, whether the pair is easy or difficult.
  • Difficult comparisons are not slower: Unlike previous assumptions, time-per-judgement in CJ remains steady across script complexity.
  • Intuitive judgement is trustworthy: The best outcomes are often produced when professionals rely on pattern recognition and experience, supported by clear, focused interfaces.
  • Fatigue is mitigated by better workflows: Judges can handle far more decisions per session without drop-off than previously assumed.

These findings overturn the traditional view that careful, time-consuming judging is inherently better, and instead support solutions that enable fair, reliable decisions with dramatically less time and effort.

What We’ve Learned from Dating Apps

Imagine opening your favourite dating app (assuming you have one or have used one!). There’s a gallery of profiles, and with a simple flick of your thumb, you’re making rapid-fire decisions - yes, no, maybe - almost instinctively. This isn't just a trivial pastime: it’s a modern masterclass in user experience, showing us how digital platforms can help people make confident, meaningful choices in record time.

But what’s really happening? The swipe is the power of a micro-decision. It’s easy, quick, and never overwhelming. App designers have learned to distill complicated choices down to a single gesture. Engagement stays high because users are never bogged down or distracted.​

There’s more. The elegant, uncluttered interface keeps the focus on what matters, avoiding choice paralysis. Users feel in control, making decisions that add up to a powerful group consensus, quickly, robustly, and with remarkably little stress.

Finally, dating apps show the exponential benefits of scale. When thousands of people can contribute their input painlessly and in parallel, every decision made strengthens the accuracy of the platform, and consensus forms faster and with greater confidence than ever.

In short: dating apps have made micro-decisions intuitive, fun, and scalable. Could this be a blueprint for assessment - helping educators turn marking from a chore into an engaging, mobile-first experience where every second counts and every voice is heard?

Mobile-First, Not Mobile-Only: A Platform Built for Real Life

Picture a busy teacher on the bus, between classes, or sitting in a café. With RM Compare’s mobile-first design, assessment finally fits into these moments. Micro-sessions let you make quick, confident judgements with just a few taps, turning what used to be a desktop-bound chore into something you can do flexibly, exactly when it works for you.

But being mobile-first isn’t about leaving the desktop behind. When it’s time to deep-dive into a complex essay, review supporting evidence, or collaborate with colleagues, RM Compare seamlessly scales up. On a larger screen, you’ll find all the advanced tools and space you need to get the job done thoroughly with no cramped displays, no compromises.

Clear feedback and easy navigation run throughout, whether you’re swiping, tapping, or clicking. This is a platform that adapts to fit naturally into your life and workflow, not the other way around. Flexibility, speed, and reliability come first for every judge, every script, and every session.

Mobile-first is our North Star, but mobile-only is not our horizon. Whatever your device, wherever you are, RM Compare delivers the same quality, ease, and trust you expect making assessment a truly 21st-century experience.

Conclusion

By bridging Buckley’s empirical research with the efficiency and user motivation proven by consumer apps, RM Compare is leading the way on transforming assessment. The biggest takeaway? It’s not the time invested, but the quality of the comparison and the experience of the user that matters.

The future of assessment is fast, intuitive, credible, and in some contexts mobile-first.

Coming soon!

We are introducing a new mobile experience for RM Compare very soon. We can't say much more about it right now, but keep a close eye on the RM Compare product portal for all of the latest news.