Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not what the Terminator made it out to be. Currently, all AI agents are neatly nestled in a webpage which is connected through the backend to millions of dollars’ worth of computing hardware. If the AI agents right now go rogue, all we have to do is cut the cords and they will stop. On a more positive note, in this post we will be looking at how AI can be used to ease the most tedious part of a teacher’s life, grading.
Traditional Grading
Traditional methods of grading have long been a cornerstone of the education system, relying primarily on human judgment to evaluate student performance. These methods typically involve educators assessing students' work based on predefined criteria, such as accuracy, completeness, and adherence to guidelines. From handwritten exams to essays and projects, traditional grading encompasses a wide range of assessment formats across different subjects and grade levels.
Let us look over some challenges faced by traditional grading. First of all, it is heavily subjected to subjectivity, and bias. Some might argue that gradings that are subjected to personal preferences, mood, and sometimes even unconscious prejudices are unfair. To solve this problem, a grading method needs to be completely objective.
By the nature of the ratio between teachers and students, grading papers, and assignments take a long time. If this time can be saved, more time can be spent creating engaging classes, and giving more one-on-one time to students who need it. On top of that, due to the overwhelming work piled on top of the teachers, traditional grading methods may prioritize rote memorization and regurgitation of facts over deeper learning and critical thinking skills. By focusing primarily on correct answers and adherence to predefined criteria, these methods may fail to capture the full range of students' abilities and hinder their ability to develop essential skills for success in the modern world.
Traditional grading methods also lack proper feedback to the students only due to the immense number of papers that teachers need to grade.
Pros of AI Based Grading
AI grading systems are incredibly efficient, capable of processing large volumes of student submissions in a fraction of the time it would take a human grader. With this increased efficiency, you will be able to devote more time to other aspects of teaching, such as lesson planning, student support, and professional development. As a result, AI grading can help alleviate the burden on teachers and streamline administrative tasks, ultimately enhancing the overall educational experience for both students and educators.
AI grading systems have the potential to provide more detailed and personalized feedback to students. By analyzing patterns in student work and identifying areas for improvement, these systems can offer targeted feedback that helps students understand their strengths and weaknesses. This personalized approach to feedback can foster student growth and learning, empowering them to take ownership of their education and strive for continuous improvement.
Cons of AI Based Grading
Despite its numerous benefits, AI grading is not without its challenges and limitations. Critics argue that AI grading systems may struggle to accurately assess certain aspects of student work, such as creativity, critical thinking, and nuanced writing. Better AI models in the future might be able to solve these problems by improved algorithms and architecture.
Additionally, concerns have also been raised about the potential for algorithmic bias, as AI systems may inadvertently perpetuate existing inequalities in education. Since all AI systems are trained on pre-existing data from the world, there is bound to be pre-existing inequalities perpetuated into the AI system.
To address these concerns, it is essential to approach AI grading as a tool to complement, rather than replace, human judgment. While AI can provide valuable insights and efficiency in the grading process, human oversight remains crucial for ensuring fairness, accuracy, and empathy in evaluating student work. By combining the strengths of AI with the expertise of educators, we can create a more holistic and effective approach to grading that benefits students and educators alike.
AI Based Grading
A very important branch of AI is called Natural Language Processing (NLP), which aims to understand the nuances of the written language. This branch is the most important branch when it comes to grading textual exams, and assignments.
You can get a very simple taste of what NLP AI agents are capable of by using the popular chatbot, ChatGPT. If prompted correctly, this chatbot will be able to give very objective grades and objective feedback. The power of intelligent agents such as ChatGPT depend on the quality of prompts provided. You can provide written inputs to the chatbot and ask it to grade the input in a specific criterion out of a total grade and provide reasons as to why it was graded like that.
If you buy the ChatGPT Plus subscription, you will be able to automate the grading approach by using custom GPTs. If you are not tech-savvy, there are pre-existing GPTs created by people around the world that you can use.
Websites like essaygrader provides a good service to help teachers grade essays. They claim to decrease the time to grade essays by 95%.
Conclusion
In this post, we discussed potential uses of AI when it comes to automating grading. Traditional methods of grading might have inherent biases of the graders affecting the grade. Also, due to the number of assignments, and tests that is needed to be graded, teachers are not able to give attention to singular students and their needs.
On the other hand, if grading is automated by using AI agents, we will get a system that does not have inherent biases, and that will work very similarly every single time it is prompted to do so. It will free up the valuable time of teachers, and it will also improve the feedback that students receive.
Educators can try out the popular chatbot ChatGPT to try out how well the AI agent will be able to grade assignments. On top of that, buying the ChatGPT Plus subscription will allow you to use custom GPTs to improve the functionality of the base ChatGPT chatbot. There are also other websites that automate grading.