I admit I am not a big fan of writing essays. I blame this fact on my experiences in college. Some professors would give me C’s no matter what I wrote, while others would give me A’s. It just seemed like they didn’t even bother to read what I wrote, but put a face to the paper and wrote a number.
Technology that analyzes written assignments isn’t anything new, but I guess as of late it has been gaining some steam. It seems that teachers and professors are getting tired of doing the boring stuff and wish to only do the fun stuff. I say just stop giving out essays as assignments if you don’t wish to take the time to grade them.
Using a computer to grade an essay based on some algorithms is unfair to the person that is writing the essay. If you spend 5 minutes copying someone else’s work then by all means stick it in the computer, but if I spend a couple of days/weeks researching something and putting my thoughts to paper, I definitely expect a human to take the time and read it.
I am selfish like that.
