The BBC has a story about how software is being used to help grade essays. Excerpt:
Qualrus, a program developed at the University of Missouri, offers instant feedback on even complex subjects.
It picks up word patterns, from which it can tell whether students' arguments are sound, and gives the essay a score.
... Students taking Prof Brent's sociology course submit their draft essays online and receive detailed feedback within a couple of seconds.
It gives a numerical score based on the weight instructors place on different parts of the assignment.
Qualrus is not designed to replace the academics' marking, but to ensure undergraduates are thinking along the right lines before handing in their final work.
It sounds like the creators and initial users of Qualrus are doing a good job of using the software in a balanced way. They're essentially boosting the amount of feedback that students get, while at the same time keeping a human in the loop for the final grading to make sure quality doesn't suffer. But how many other schools will be so careful? Inevitably, teachers pressed for time are going to use this for final grades. Who could resist? And when your school's paying good money for it, won't there be pressure to use it more? Given the climate of "standardization", how long before schools embrace the simple consistency of software grading at the expense of quality?
There can be no doubt that software won't do as good a job reading and evaluating an essay as can a human. So why try? Isn't this what grad students are for? Or why not have students evaluate each others' drafts? etc. Is there really a problem here that requires a computerized solution?
(I recommend Todd Oppenheimer's The Flickering Mind for some excellent history and insight on this topic.)
Link: BBC NEWS | UK | Education | Essays marked by computer program.
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