Online learning has changed the way that teachers develop and grade assessments. Teachers no longer need to sit down with a stack of papers and a red pen and manually mark incorrect answers one at a time. Exam grading software enables educators to grade assignments quickly and with a high degree of accuracy, while also allowing teachers to look at student data more effectively.
Although exam grading software can be more efficient, it also can present new challenges, like having to move scores from one platform to another or inflexibility in delivering student feedback. A strong exam grading software platform is able to make the task of grading and providing student feedback simple, without adding more work to the teacher’s plate.
What do teachers need to manage online assessments?
Giving and scoring assessments is a large and important part of a busy day for teachers. It can also become tedious, especially when assessing students using a traditional multiple-choice, matching, or true/false assessment.
To manage assessment scoring efficiently, teachers have a few needs when it comes to software tools:
- Save time – the bottom line is that educators are busy, any tool that saves time while yielding the same or an even better result is a tool that teachers need.
- Be flexible – all assessment tools need flexibility, this gives educators options for assessing and providing feedback in different and unique ways.
- Target growth data – the purpose of any assessment is to give feedback on what students are and are not understanding in a classroom, so educators need software tools that can help spot trends in their students’ performance.
The bottom line with any software tool is that for teachers to use it, the tool needs to make their life easier. If the tool can’t do that, then teachers will not use it. Here are 4 ways that exam grading software can simplify grading and assessment management for teachers.
1. Grading software saves teachers’ time
Grading software allows for automatic scoring on exams that utilize several item types, including multiple-choice, true/false, or matching questions. This means that instead of having to go through question by question using a key, teachers can simply define questions that should be scored without human intervention, and have exams for their entire class graded in a matter of seconds, immediately after a student submits a response.
With the time saved through automatic scoring, educators can focus that time back on students and provide more targeted feedback. Additionally, exam grading software can utilize advanced scoring rules to allow for partial scoring and customizable cut scores, giving students a better idea of what they have done well and where they missed the mark. All of this is done in a fraction of the time that it would take a teacher to do manually.
2. Teachers can define custom scoring rules
Flexibility and customization are critical when considering test grading tools. Having assessment grading software that allows teachers to set custom scoring rules gives educators tremendous flexibility when grading. It also allows them to provide highly targeted feedback that students can act on, rather than simply marking the whole question as incorrect.
Exam grading software should allow for many scoring rules including weighting questions, providing both traditional and rubric grading options, and allowing teachers to set a minimum passing score before moving on to the next assignment or section. All of this serves to give students multiple opportunities for success and, in turn, multiple opportunities for learning.
3. Teachers can manually score open-ended assessment questions
Of course, not all assessments are multiple-choice based. To get at the heart of what a student knows, teachers need to ask open-ended questions. While critical for identifying student strengths and areas for growth, these questions are also more difficult to grade because they must be scored manually.
A testing software program that integrates manual grading for open-ended assessments gives teachers the option to seamlessly place these questions on an assessment that includes multiple-choice, true/false, or matching questions.
The TAO Grader, for example, eliminates traditional issues with paper responses, such as illegible handwriting, printing out responses, and managing a large amount of paperwork typically required on open response tests. Rubric grading can be integrated as well, allowing instructors to grade all written responses using their own rubric, setting better expectations for students, making grading easier, and aiming to remove bias through a consistent set of criteria. All of this makes digital grading software tools, like TAO Grader, extremely useful for teachers.
4. The software connects with the entire learning ecosystem
An effective and efficient exam grading software allows teachers to simply grade an assignment and move on to the next one while seamlessly feeding the data back to the assessment and learning ecosystem.
This means instead of sitting at a computer and clicking from one window to the next and transcribing grades, teachers grade once and all of the data goes where it needs to go. This frees up time for the teacher and reduces frustrating redundancies that are common when working between different education platforms.
Great tools save teachers time
Teachers are busy, and any tech tool that saves them time while improving student achievement is going to be very useful. Test grading software tools, like TAO Grader, save teachers time, allow for more flexibility in grading, and give teachers a high-level view of how their students are doing. All of this can lead to happier teachers, with less anxiety over grading papers, and more time to spend doing what they do best, working with students.
TAO Grader is one online grading software that allows teachers to grade quickly while ensuring quality, eliminating bias, and providing record-time results while being fully integrated for end-to-end assessment. To learn more about how TAO Grader can help teachers click here.
