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Computers Grade Essays.....But not Always Well
I had heard of programs that would grade students writing, don't know anyone that uses them yet. We are changing our standards and curriculum in NJ and have been told that we will all be required to include writing and reading in our classes. I am by no means a great writer or reader and worry that having to include this in my classes will be difficult for me. So I am intrigued by this kind of program. I know we can not always rely on computers to do all of our work for us but we can let them make it easier for us.
Wow - I have never heard of computers grading writing before! This seems crazy! Grading essays is SO time consuming, so using a computer would be nice. I agree that it would be easier, however it doesn't seem like it would be that accurate (despite what the article says). I also think that if I computer is doing all the grading it would be challenging for teachers to know exactly what each student needed to work on. Although it seems like a great concept, I'm not sure I would be able to trust a computer to grade my students' writing.
ReplyDeleteI also find this concept difficult to fully accept. I teach high school English and history, and we have been told that in the next few years, computers ARE going to grade students written responses on assessments developed to "test" the common core standards. One problem I've always had as an English teacher is "how" standardized tests' written portions are graded. Writing is subjective, even with a rubric. Can computers decide the tone and voice of an essay? Can computers "grade" an effective transition versus an ineffective one? I almost feel that we will have to teach our students how to write for the computer, rather than teach our students how to write compelling, persuasive, and impressive essays, articles, and stories. This scares me! That being said, it WOULD be a lot easier to convince our teachers outside of language arts to incorporate writing into their classrooms if they didn't have to grade it...think of the hours saved :)!!!
ReplyDeleteI agree this is a great concept but writing is such a "hands on" subject. Computers can only do so much, maybe catch the basic stuff. But students should receive in-depth feedback to ensure that they know what corrections are needed and why.
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