Tech Tools to Help with Grading and More!
Grading….I hated it when I was a teacher. It was the only thing that I hated about teaching. It took me so much time, especially grading those darn essays, that at times I felt like I didn’t have a life other than grading. I would spend weeks grading them. It was exhausting. It was debilitating. It was overwhelming. Honestly, it was what made me start thinking of becoming an administrator. Still, we do it because students need our feedback to improve.
Then, as an administrator, I watched my teachers struggle in the same way that I did with grading. There had to be an easier way. Enter tech tools, even some with AI, to help teachers grade.
Oh my, if I had some of these tools when I was teaching, I probably would have stayed in the classroom. Here are some great tech tools that I’ve found to help you grade.
CoGrader
What Is CoGrader?
CoGrader is “the AI Essay Grader that helps teachers provide quality feedback on essays in 80% less time.” The process is simple:
Define your grading criteria. You can use CoGrader’s rubrics aligned to your state standards or upload your own. View the different rubrics here, including the Texas STAAR writing rubrics in English and Spanish.
Import assignments. CoGrader works with Google Classroom, Canvas, and Schoology so you can easily upload submitted student work to be graded.
Get grades, feedback, and reports. “CoGrader generates detailed feedback and justification reports for each student, highlighting areas of improvement together with the grade.”
Review and adjust. As the teacher, you have the final say in what grade a student’s work receives, as well as the feedback given.
In addition, it’s important to provide clear assignment instructions when you begin the process with your students. And CoGrader currently works best with a “one prompt, one answer” approach. If you are trying to have your students address several different questions in their writing, CoGrader may not be as successful in evaluating and providing feedback at this time. Detailed instructions can be found here.
Bonus Features of CoGrader
CoGrader, because it was developed by teachers for teachers and is backed by the University of California Berkeley, has some extra features that make it truly useful.
It checks to see if ChatGPT or another chatbot was used for student writing. While this process is not perfect, it can be helpful in determining if you need to look further at possible plagiarism.
It is FERPA compliant and protects student privacy.
It can ensure consistency and accuracy in grading and reduce biases.
CoGrader provides three free certifications for educators using the platform.
ZipGrade
ZipGrade is a tool that I still use with my students that I tutor. It is so easy! You upload the test, choose which answer sheet for students to use, either have the students submit answers online or fill in on downloadable answer sheet, and then upload their answers. You can use your phone to access it, scan the answer sheets, and get the data.
The data is the part that I love about this app. It can give you some good data to use to inform your instruction. You can use this app for formative assessments, tests, even exams (if allowed by your school). Check it out! Plus, the cost is minimal—$6.99/year.
Click here to learn more about ZipGrade.
EdTech Essentials: 12 Strategies for Every Classroom in the Age of AI
So technically this isn’t “tech,” but it is a great book about tech. This book by Monica Burns gives you a plethora of great tech resources at the end of this book. Plus, the strategies that she presents about working with tech with students are great to use in your classroom. It’s a quick read and can really give you some great tools to incorporate into your lessons. You can purchase the book here on Amazon.
Using AI Chatbots to Enhance Planning and Instruction
Again, this isn’t tech, but it is about tech. This isn’t about grading specifically, but it gives you ideas of how you can use AI Chatbots to help in grading. This is a resource guide (only 4 pages) Tech Tips for chatbots along with prompts to use and examples of how to use chatbots. This is a great resource for you. I use it all of the time. Click here to purchase it on Amazon.
Hopefully, these resources will help you in your tech journey as an educator! Let me know if you try any of these resources, and how it goes. I would love to hear what wonderful things you are doing with these resources!
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