Grading Diagrams Automatically

Thomas, Pete (2004). Grading Diagrams Automatically. Technical Report 2004/01; Department of Computing, The Open University.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21954/ou.ro.0001602b

Abstract

This paper describes a feasibility study into the marking (grading) of diagrams automatically. The diagrams were produced by students during an on-line examination using a simple drawing tool. The students' examination answers, which included a diagram, were submitted over the Internet to an automatic marking tool for grading. This paper describes the methodology adopted by the diagram marking tool and comments on the results achieved. Whilst only a small number of diagrams were available for marking, the grades awarded by the automatic marker were sufficiently close to the marks awarded by four independent human markers to suggest that marking diagrams automatically, for small diagrams at least, is feasible and should be pursued further.