4 Ways AI Can Help Scale Exams and Enhance Learning Outcomes

Does your educational institution or organization face these challenges in administering examinations?

1. Marking complex, open ended questions
2. Delivering results on time
3. Improving teaching and learning outcomes
4. Detecting fraud and cheating

If you answered ‘yes’ to one or more of the above, it’s time to consider Artificial Intelligence (AI) for exam administration and marking.

AI and Machine Learning (ML) are more than technology buzzwords. They are permeating and transforming several industries, including education. According to MarketWatch, between 2018 and 2023, the growth of AI in the education sector is expected to be the highest in Asia-Pacific countries like India, China and South Korea. The reason? Government initiatives to support digitization, automation, and adoption of cloud-based services, are on the rise in the region.

If you are looking to scale exam administration and marking and reduce fraud while enhancing student and teacher outcomes, AI is your best bet. Here’s how it helps.

• 1. Revolutionize online marking and assessment

  While curricula and pedagogy are evolving across educational institutions, assessment processes have not transformed enough to meet the demands of large scale examinations. This is opening the doors to increased use of online marking and emerging technologies such as AI for grading. For instance, when students take their A-level exams in the UK, their hand written answers are scanned, segmented and sent to different examiners for online marking. The result: safe delivery, speed of marking and real-time tracking of grading and quality assurance.

  EdX, a MOOC provider and a joint initiative of MIT and Harvard, is pioneering grading software to improve assessment processes globally. The software is currently being tested at the college level. Such AI-based grading software can go beyond basic scanning and perform more complex assessment such as marking answers to open ended questions designed to test a student’s cognitive abilities.

• 2. Reduce grading time with automation

  Automated grading can free up valuable time, significantly reducing the burden of assessors as well as slashing the turnaround time. This is especially useful when skilled examiners and assessors are in short supply. AI-based chat bots and Natural Language Processing (NLP) is making it possible for universities and colleges to conduct real-time tests and surveys at different locations. Gradescope, an alternative AI grading system, was developed at UC Berkeley with the aim of reducing the time taken by teaching assistants to grade papers. The software is used to evaluate online tests and has assessed 10 million answers to 100,000 questions across diverse curricula.

• 3. Improve student and teacher outcomes

  Programs such as Digital India, Start up India and Make in India - initiated by the Government of India - are also exploring the opportunities for using AI and ML in the education industry. OLABS funded by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is designed to offer AI teaching assistants and intelligent tutoring systems to students. These technologies along with live chat bots help improve the loop of student feedback for teachers and graders. Real-time data can be collected and filtered according to students’ profiles and used to make significant changes in the assessment process.

• 4. Minimize fraud and cheating

  In conducting high stake exams, examination bodies face several challenges such as impersonation, use of concealed cameras and so on. AI can help reduce fraud by taking the images of students in examination halls and verifying them against scanned documents. Plagiarism detectors can help detect copying while webcams help monitor multiple exam locations for malpractice. AI-based algorithms can validate even keystroke signatures by evaluating keyboard pressure and speed. Not only that. They can also create different question papers for different locations by randomly assigning questions or changing numerical variables in subjects like maths or finance to discourage stealing or advance circulation of question papers.

In essence, embracing AI can better equip educators and corporates in conducting large scale assessments more effectively. It bestows several advantages such as scalability, rapid turnaround and higher accuracy, leading to enhanced outcomes for both test-takers as well as testing bodies.

Source:

• marketwatch.com
• ft.com/content
• medium.com
• digitaljournal.com
• digitalindia.gov.in