A computer may not be able to write the Great American Novel, but new software can evaluate a student essay about as well as a teacher can, researchers say. The Intelligent Essay Assessor software mimics the way a teacher grades essays. Then the teacher submits a model essay written by an expert or a sampling of essays that have been graded by a human. That provides the software with a basis for comparison.
Researchers say the program examines about a dozen predictors of essay quality.
For instance, an essay that lists words relevant to the topic but doesn't use complete sentences would be flagged. So would an essay found to have sentence patterns too similar to those in the textbook. The software also provides feedback on what the essay left out, a feature that could help students writing term papers. And because the software's methodology is consistent and efficient, he says it could lighten the load for educators, especially those with 300 to 400 students a semester. But biology professor James Perley, president of the American Association of University Professors, says he would rather have smaller classes.