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Indiana First With Computerized Grading
Mz6 writes "Computerized grading has been talked about previously, however, the New York Times reports that Indiana has become the first state to grade high school English essays by computer. The computerized grading process, called 'e-rater', uses a 6-point rating scale and uses artificial intelligence to 'mimic the grading process of human readers'. The system was tested over a 2-year pilot program and produced results virtually identical to those of trained readers. The big question is, will other states begin to emulate Indiana by tossing human grading?"
Funny, because the way I read that is, "Produced lawsuits where the cost is virtually identical to about 20 times the short-term savings."
I see this coming from both sides. The obvious, the grading was wrong, and I lost a scholarship. To other people suing after dropping out of collage level english classes (the test said I was better than I was).
Kinetic stupidity has a new brand leader: Allen Zadr.
I bet I could write the other side of the equation: a program to create nonsensical gibberish that always gets A's. What would a teacher do if you handed in something like that? Apply a double standard to the student?
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Cool idea. Imagine high school students re-writing their essays until the grader software gives them an A+.
The GMAT books are already giving formula essays to get you past any writers block that might happpen on the exam day...
You are in a maze of twisted little posts, all alike.
The system was tested over a 2-year pilot program and produced results virtually identical to those of trained readers
I think this says more about the training that the "trained readers" are receiving than it does about the software.
Good: The computer probably won't grade you down for writing an anti-Bush essay, and it probably won't get fired for it. Good: Computers won't play favorites, and you can't kiss up to a computer. Bad: The computer really can't grade you up for expressing original ideas. Bad: It's probably possible to fool the computer somehow.
-73, de n1ywb
www.n1ywb.com
At least the parent post proves one simple truth: human english teachers can be replaced by simple shell scripts.
Not that there's anything in this post that serves as an example. I guess that's because I was graded by humans. Seriously, I don't recall getting any encouragement in writing back in the '70s in high school, and not much in college. I guess it wouldn't have been any worse if the Grade-O-Vac was inspecting my papers instead of my mostly-marginally-literate teachers. There were several exceptions, but they focused much more on reading than on writing. I suspect they had a lot greater effect that way--I know they had a great effect on me.
If I were a student, I'd want to get a copy of this software and use it to pre-grade my papers so that I could find out what's wrong and fix it before I turned it in.
Imagine high school students re-writing their essays ...
Actually, anything that would encourage students to re-write their papers and improve their writing would be pretty amazing. Most students jot something down, run a spell checker and turn in their work. If they could pre-grade their work, they might be better motivated to put out more effort and improve their writing.
Fortunately, when people graduate from high school and enter the workforce they become motivated to always make their best effort.
My writing style is somewhat peculiar, though I can't exactly say how (or even approximately how). Partially as a result of this, my marks in English class over the years of high school ranged from C to A, depending not on me, but on who the teacher was. If the teacher happened to like my style, I got a good mark.
This is annoying, but at least each year there was a different teacher, who may like my style. If the marking is computerised, it will not change; if your writing doesn't fit what the computer likes, you're screwed; likewise, if it does like it, you might never learn to express yourself more creatively (ie you'll be punished for trying to write in a manner different from what you usually do).
There are possibilities in this technology, but I suspect that it will be a long while before the eccentric aren't labeled as poor writers.
A computer can check spelling and even grammar to a certain extent. However, it cannot evaluate factual accuracy, strength of argument. Even with spelling, the computer is not likely to catch improper use of homonyms. I can guarantee you that it will be possible to create a piece of writing that is utter crap that would get an A+ using this or any other possible computerized grading system. Unfortunately, there are probably many teachers out there who make poorer graders than this system does. The answer to the problem of poor-quality teaching is not replacing teachers with computers; the answer is a combination of better teacher pay and putting higher standards in place for our teachers via competency testing.
Writing is not mathematics. Good writing should not go along some artificial standard. Just because my paper is grammatically correct, has a topic sentence, 3 supporting paragraphs, and a conclusion doesn't mean it is good. Good writing needs a flow of ideas from one paragraph to another. It needs finesse, style, grace. This is like an IQ test for english writing. It would do very well in identifying poor writers - but could never identify a great one. I'm sorry ee cummings, your use of punctuation is poor 1/6. There are examples like this in books on taking the various standardized tests - any truly excellent writer is likely going to do badly. Why? The rules of the english language are guidlines, which may be broken when appropriate. This is just the mechanization of another facet of society, and should be tossed out with the rest of the garbage.
The whole idea of an automated grading system for essays is insane to begin with. The single most important aspect of an essay is its content, not its form. Form and grammar are important in conveying a message, but the message is what is actually important. The things an automated grading system can grade should not make up much of an essay's total grade.
Besides, anyone who has read much literature knows that many great authors play with grammar, spelling, and form in non-standard ways in order convey a message. An automated system would grade them poorly, because only those who conform exactally to the rules get a good grade. Is our goal to turn all of our students into mindless automatons whose only goal is to churn out exactally the same drivell as the next guy?
They are not graded fairly, and they determine 10% of the final grade.
10% of the grade on the essay? Or in a particular class? 10% on the essay may actually be tolerable, because that means that at least a human actually read it to give the other 90% of the grade.
A good essay always consists of an introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs, and a closing paragraph.
It is essential that every paragraph begin with a topic sentence. The first paragraph should state the thesis, or point of the essay. Since computers cannot actually understand the entire essay, you can assume that it will only be judging the local coherence of writing which is free to run like a river, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, taking us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and environs.
The second paragraph should make a point that present a countervailing view, the antithesis. Once again, spelling should be correct, the essay should be capable of passing a Microsoft Word grammar check, but after that we pass through grass behind the bush where a gull calls, coming far, ending here. Finn again? Take, but softly memory till thousands are given the keys to a way a lone a last a loved a long the river runs.
The third paragraph should synthesize the material covered in the first two paragraphs. It is, however, important that any material obtained from external sources be modified so that it cannot be detected as an exact match for anything on the Web. So, she went into the garden to cut a lettuce leaf to make an mince pie; and at the same time a great wolverine, coming up the street, goes into the store. "What! No laundry detergent?" So he died, and she very imprudently married the barber, and they all fell to playing the game of catch as catch can till the gunpowder ran out at the heels of their boots.
In conclusion, the final paragraph should recapitulate and summarize what has gone before: since you can be sure that a computer is capable of counting paragraphs, a good essay always consists of five paragraphs. If it has the right number of paragraphs and every word is spelled correctly, you are almost certain to get at least a passing grade.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
This issue cuts deep into the heart of what grading is for -- it's possible for smart people to reasonably disagree, depending on what they think the intent of the grade is. Since grades are put to many uses, there are many answers to the question.
As a college instructor, I tend to use a strict grading protocol -- and then "bump up" a few of the students. If someone comes in to my office every week and really struggles to understand the concepts, but the computer tells me that they earned a "C+" -- they're likely to find a "B-" on their transcript. But if someone who's smart enough to get an "A" blows an exam from being hung over, that person gets little or no sympathy.
Unfortunately, the system described here doesn't return any such useful feedback. The Indiana system returns a grade from a six point scale. No comments, no criticism, no hint that the evaluation is meaningful.
Incidentally, what's this about "teaching instead of tedium"? Grading essays by evaluating construction, insight, and creativity should be part of the teaching process. Perhaps this is something that should be addressed earlier in the education of these students - if they're reaching college as "borderline illiterates" there is a problem - but grading in general is a part of teaching. If I were a student, I'd want to know that a human being - at some point - had bothered to look at the work that I did.
~Idarubicin
The thing is that a human can actually understand what you are writing. Clever arguments? A nice flow? Humor? Why would I concern myself with things that make reading interesting, if nobody is ever going to read it. Who cares if its dull, just get the punctuation right! Nevermind that it doesn't make much sense, just get a dictionary and show the computer your rich vocabulary...
Analogies don't equal equalities, they are merely somewhat analogous.