Comments on yarns of the heart: More on Holt Online Essay Scoring

BTW--blogger is having trouble with the new follow...

2008-09-09T19:52:25.802-05:00

BTW--blogger is having trouble with the new follow thing--I will try again later.

I agree with all of you. The idea that a machine c...

2008-09-09T13:00:24.728-05:00

I agree with all of you. The idea that a machine can truly "read" is just beyond our technology right now, but it's convenient and the textbook companies make it all sound so scientific and true. Thanks for your thoughts on this!

Yes, people are making money on this -- big money!...

2008-09-08T20:43:58.902-05:00

Yes, people are making money on this -- big money! This is ridiculous. I hate to sound like a dinosaur, but the idea of a computer scoring essays is nuts. So much of writing is about feeling, which computers can't do. And can computers really understand all the various connotations of words? As a college instructor and a professional writer, I find this offensive in so many ways.

I was just grading essays this morning, and sometimes you read something that is grammatically flawless, but it just doesn't make sense or is missing the mark. As I read one essay, I was at first stunned at how perfectly it was written, but when I got to the end, I realized he had never really carried through on his thesis statement. He got sidetracked and never got back on topic, although the writing was flawless. The student is clearly an excellent writer, but he needs to work on organization and critical thinking skills. I can't imagine that a computer would have found anything wrong with his essay.

Writing well is like painting or sculpting. It's an art. I wonder how a Picasso would score if a computer graded it.

I have to agree with the other commenters. There ...

2008-09-08T19:32:22.512-05:00

I have to agree with the other commenters. There is a push for the kids to do well but there is no push to improve the actual system of teaching. And yes...someone has to be making money from this!

Jena, I wish I had sources or references or someth...

2008-09-08T09:05:18.915-05:00

Jena, I wish I had sources or references or something to help you out, but I don't. I am appalled by this, really, but not surprised.

My son is talking about going to high school here in IL because of sports, so I have personal incentive to want this to not be used in IL.

And I'm sure that IN does absolutely everything else the same as IL in education so using computerized essay scoring is the reason why their test scores are higher, right? Gee whiz.

Grr, I have issues with that on SO MANY levels. P...

2008-09-08T08:13:54.063-05:00

Grr, I have issues with that on SO MANY levels. People seem to think that computers can do it all but they don't get that we still cannot program decent AI, and a list of objectives still doesn't work when the material is subjective. My husband is a programmer who often deals with the subject of game AI and predicting human behavior and it is amazing how clueless people are about what is and what is not possible.

Then there is the whole issue of negative feedback and training children to work the system to avoid negative feedback--what portion of her class is actually willing to take a lower points and do it right if they know that wording something another way will get them higher points? Sounds like someone has unrealistic expectations or just plain doesn't understand her students.