Selective writing assessment with tutoring

• US 20070238084A1
• Filed: 04/06/2006
• Published: 10/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vantage Technologies Knowledge Assessment LLC
• Original Assignee: Vantage Technologies Knowledge Assessment LLC
• Inventors: Maguire, Brian, MacClay, Kevin, Maguire, Lorna
• Granted Patent: US 8,608,477 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 434/353
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/06 Foreign languages with audible presentation of material to be studied G09B5/04
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/02 of the type wherein the student is expected to construct an answer to the question which is presented or wherein the machine gives an answer to the question presented by a student

Abstract

An on-line, computerized, software-driven system provides writing assessment of submitted essays with instructional feedback. The feedback incorporates comments and prompts provided to the user which are generated in response to the assessment evaluation of written text. Skill level and developmental level comments, remarks and prompts on various genre specific domain areas are provided in a real-time mode or in a request response mode, as elected by the user. Assessment and scores are provided by machine methods driven by a software engine. All appropriate comments and prompts are generated to the user by analysis logic software operating on a database of genre specific, educationally acceptable comments and prompts.

Claims

1. A process, for interfacing with a student working at a workstation connected to a host server, for providing an essay writing assignment, monitoring, scoring and providing feedback on essay writing, comprising the steps of:

selecting the student language development level from among ELL, foreign language speaking student, English speaking student;

selecting the student skill development level from among developing, automatic, proficient;

selecting the feedback prompt mode from continuous feedback mode, request feedback mode;

providing an essay assignment to be received by the student;

monitoring an essay being typed;

providing feedback comments and prompts to be received by the student selected as a function of the student language development level selected, the student skill development level selected and the feedback prompt mode selected;

prompting the student;

repeating the monitoring and providing feedback comments and prompts steps; and

scoring the essay and providing the student a score when scoring is requested;

wherein the student is first provided with a split display separated into the assignment first portion and the student essay text typing second portion; and

wherein the student is thereafter provided with a further split display separated into feedback comments and prompts first portion and the student essay text typing second portion.

2. The process of claim 1, wherein said steps of student language development level and said student skill development level are selected on a single touch screen.

3. The process of claim 1, wherein after said step of selection of student language development level, a scoring scale is selected.

4. The process of claim 3, wherein after said step of selection of scoring scale, genre prompt is selected.

5. The process of claim 4, wherein said genre selecting step selects from persuasive, narrative, informative, literary, informational genres.

6. The process of claim 5, wherein said providing feedback comments and prompts step includes a selection between draft feedback and submitted response feedback.

7. The process of claim 1, wherein said feedback comments and prompts step is separated into topics of feedback on focus and meaning, feedback on content and development, feedback on organization, feedback on language use and style, and feedback on mechanics and conventions.

8. The process of claim 7, wherein each of said feedback topics is separated into predetermined comments and prompts as a function of score by incremental point change.

9. The process of claim 1, wherein the step of monitoring an essay being typed includes:

receiving a response submission from a student;

determining if a retyped essay in response is a revision or a draft;

if a retyped essay in response is determined to be a revision, then

determining if the revision is in response to an untrained prompt/voluntarily done or if the revision is in response to a trained prompt;

if the revision is in response to an untrained prompt, then

determining a number of additional times revision submissions may be permitted to occur; and

prompting the student when the maximum permitted revision tries has been reached and recording the student'"'"'s record in a portfolio;

if a retyped essay in response is determined to be a revision, then

generating an assignment feedback report and recording the student'"'"'s record in a portfolio;

determining if no feedback mode was selected and recording the student'"'"'s record in a portfolio;

determining a number of additional times revision submissions may be permitted to occur; and

prompting the student when the maximum permitted revision tries has been reached and recording the student'"'"'s record in a portfolio; and

recording the student'"'"'s record in a portfolio.

10. A process, for interfacing with a student working at an Internet workstation connected to a host server, for providing an essay writing assignment, monitoring, scoring, and providing feedback on essay writing, comprising the steps of:

determining student log-in and identification;

determining a performance level, student language development level, school district and other demographics from a students database;

determining past performance, past topics and past feedback from a student histories portfolio database;

determining a prompt demographics histories from a students database

selecting a writing topic from a topic database with input from the student log-in and from the prompt demographics histories;

displaying an assignment or feedback to the student;

monitoring the student textual essay or response;

machine scoring the textual essay or response when tutoring is elected;

profiling a student'"'"'s performance from the past performance, topics and feedback histories database and current machine scoring;

profiling a student'"'"'s grade/performance level from the current machine scoring and the prompt demographics histories database;

determining current student demographics and prompt demographics from the prompt demographics histories database and the performance level and school district database;

providing the current machine scoring to the past performance, topics and feedback database;

generating feedback comments and prompts from a database as a function of inputs form the student'"'"'s performance profile, grade/performance level, student demographics and prompt demographics, and current machine scoring; and

displaying the feedback comments and prompts to the student.

11. The process of claim 10, wherein the step of generating feedback comments and prompts from a database as a function of inputs form the student'"'"'s performance profile, grade/performance level, student demographics and prompt demographics, and current machine scoring includes the steps of:

monitoring for a modification of profile request;

obtaining a selection for native language identification;

designating the native language of the student;

analyzing a submitted essay as a function of the designated native language;

obtaining a selection of the language in which to provide the feedback; and

returning the feedback to the student in the language selected.

12. A system for implementing a process, for interfacing with a student working at a workstation connected to a host server, for providing an essay writing assignment, monitoring, scoring, and providing feedback on essay writing, comprising:

an essay test station connectable to a LAN and the Internet, containing language selection, proficiency level and feedback frequency software for generating data regarding same; and

a host server connected to a LAN or the Internet for communicating with the essay test station, wherein said host server includes;

essay analysis software connected to receive essays from the essay test station;

a trained model database connected to said essay analysis software which communicates therewith;

domain scores software connect to said analysis for determining narrative, informative, literacy, persuasive and informational prompt genre;

an editing scores database connected to said essay analysis software for essay scores;

a feedback comments and prompts database;

a current essay assignment database receiving said narrative, informative, literacy, persuasive, and informational prompt genre, and receiving said language selection, proficiency level and feedback frequency data; and

feedback comments and prompts analysis software connected to said feedback comments and prompts database, to said editing scores database, and receiving said narrative, informative, literacy, persuasive, and informational prompt genre, and for receiving said language selection, proficiency level and feedback frequency data, for providing feedback comments and prompts to said essay test station.