06/01/19 GO AHEAD, GRIPE TO THE COMPUTER

GO AHEAD, GRIPE TO THE COMPUTER

COMPUTERS CAN DO A LOT, BUT CAN THEY GRADE DREARY TERM PAPERS? University of Colorado psychology professor Thomas Landauer thinks so. The former director of cognitive science research at Bellcore has developed software that uses mathematical analysis to measure the level of knowledge in fact-heavy essays. He says his ''Intelligent Essay Assessor'' software can grade as well as any paper-weary professor.
How does it work? Textbook material and essays by experts are fed into a computer workstation so it can ''learn.'' Landauer's software, using artificial intelligence, then compares the similarity of words and phrases used by students to those in the model essays--but flags papers for plagiarism.
So far, Landauer has used it to assess some 2,000 papers and says the computer's grade often matches his. Moreover, many students prefer machine to man. ''The system does not get bored, rushed, sleepy, impatient, or forgetful,'' he says. Maybe so, but even Landauer won't use the software to grade grammar or creative writing. He says computers aren't sophisticated enough yet to adequately measure innovative thinking or rate the beauty of a well-turned phrase. ''This isn't about testing how well students communicate,'' he says. ''It's about how well they absorb facts.'' For drill work, at least, computers are literally making the grade.
EDITED BY MARCIA STEPANEK