Selective writing assessment with tutoring

• US 8,608,477 B2
• Filed: 04/06/2006
• Issued: 12/17/2013
• 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 C., Maguire, Lorna, MacClay, Kevin M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Utama, Robert J
• Application Number:
  US11/400,640
• Publication Number:
  US 20070238084A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,812 Days
• Field of Search: 433/322, 433/353, 434/156, 434/165
• US Class Current: 434/156
• 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 monitoring, scoring and providing feedback on written text, the process comprising:

receiving a student development language selection and a feedback prompt mode selection from a user;

providing a writing assignment to said user in a student development language corresponding to said student development language selection;

monitoring written text input by said user for the writing assignment in said student development language;

scoring, by a processor, said monitored written text to produce at least one score;

providing feedback prompts, via said processor, that include writing improvement instructions for improving said monitored written text input by said user, wherein said feedback prompts are selected as a function of said student development language selection, student proficiency level, said feedback prompt mode selection, and said at least one score for said monitored written text.

2. The process of claim 1 further comprising, receiving a selection of said student proficiency level;

wherein said student development language selection and said student proficiency level selection are selected on a single touch screen.

3. The process of claim 1 further comprising, receiving a scoring scale selection from said user.

4. The process of claim 3 further comprising, receiving a genre selection from said user.

5. The process of claim 4, wherein said genre selection comprises persuasive, narrative, informative, literary, informational genres.

6. The process of claim 5, wherein said providing feedback prompt mode selection comprises draft feedback and submitted response feedback.

7. The process of claim 1, wherein said feedback prompts comprises 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 topics of feedback are separated into predetermined prompts as a function of score by incremental point change.

9. The process of claim 1, wherein monitoring said written text input by said user comprises:

receiving a response submission from said user;

determining whether said response submission is a revision;

determining whether said revision is in response to a trained or untrained prompt;

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

prompting the user when a maximum permitted revision tries has been reached and recording when said maximum permitted revision tries has been has been reached in a user record;

generating an assignment feedback report for said submission; and

recording said assignment feedback report in said user record.

10. The process of claim 1, wherein said user is first provided with a split display separated into a first portion for writing assignment and a second portion for written text input typing by the user.

11. The process of claim 10, wherein said feedback prompts are provided to said user in said first portion of said split display.

18. The process of claim 1, wherein the at least one score includes at least one domain score and at least one editing score.

19. The process of claim 1, wherein the at least one score includes at least two of a narrative score, an informative score, a literary score, a persuasive score, or an informational score.

20. The process of claim 1, wherein the feedback prompts are provided in real-time while the user is inputting the written text.

21. The process of claim 1, further comprising determining, by said processor, said student proficiency level.

12. A system for monitoring, scoring and providing feedback on written text, the system comprising:

a storage component for program code and data; and

a processor for executing the program code, wherein the processor is configured to to;

receive a student development language selection and a feedback prompt mode selection;

provide a writing assignment to a user in a student development language corresponding to said student development language selection;

monitor written text input by said user for the writing assignment in said student development language;

score, by a processor, said monitored written text to produce at least one score;

provide a feedback prompt that includes writing improvement instructions regarding said monitored written text input by said user, wherein said feedback prompt is selected as a function of said student development language selection, student proficiency level, said feedback prompt mode selection, and said at least one score for said monitored written text.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein at least one of said student development language selection and said feedback prompt mode selection is received from said user.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein said storage component is configured to store a past performance for said user of a past essay assignment in said student development language.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein said feedback prompt is further based on said past performance of said user.

16. A process for monitoring, scoring and providing feedback on written text, the process comprising:

determining a student development language selection and a feedback prompt mode selection based on performance information associated with a user;

providing a writing assignment to said user in a student development language corresponding to said determined student development language selection;

monitoring written text input by said user for the writing assignment in said student development language;

scoring, by a processor, said monitored written text to produce at least one score;

providing feedback prompts, via said processor, that include writing improvement instructions for improving said monitored written text input by said user, wherein said feedback prompts are based on said performance information of said user and said at least one score for said monitored written text.

17. The process of claim 16, wherein said performance information comprises a past performance for said user of a past essay assignment in said student development language.