Smart software for answer-sheets

Student essays always seem to be riddled with the same sorts of flaws. So sociology professor Ed Brent decided to use technology.

Student essays always seem to be riddled with the same sorts of flaws. So sociology professor Ed Brent decided to use technology.

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Students in Brent's Introduction to Sociology course at the University of Missouri-Columbia now submit drafts through the SAGrader software he designed. It counts the points he wanted his students to include and analyses how well concepts are explained. Within seconds, students have a score.

Developed with National Science Foundation funding, SAGrader is so far used only in Brent's classroom. Like other essay-grading software, it analyses sentences and paragraphs, looking for keywords as well as the relationship between terms.

Other programs compare a student's paper with a database of already-scored papers, seeking to assign it a score based on what other similar-quality assignments have received.

Software now scores everything from routine assignments in high school to an essay on the GMAT, the standardised test for business school admission.