New Frontiers in Paperless Grading: Improved Assessment through Improved Tools

The assessment of student writing demands a tremendous amount of time and effort from graders, but conscientious teachers strive to provide the maximum amount of feedback possible to their students. This can be a stressful balancing act for teachers. As with many questions of efficiency, technology may provide an answer. But can technological tools improve the efficiency of the grading of student writing? This study examines the possible benefits to teacher efficiency technology can provide. Specifically, the study looks at the benefits and drawbacks of paperless grading tools such as Turnitin. Research suggests that techniques such as portfolio grading, peer-editing, and student reflection can improve student comprehension and application of feedback, but these techniques are often difficult for the teacher to implement without the aid of technology. By way of a survey of teachers of writing at one site, the study compares traditional grading practices with emergent paperless grading tools in terms of efficiency and teacher preference. The goal of the study is to determine the best practices in terms of the implementation of paperless grading tools for greater efficiency in the grading of student writing