Identifying high-quality educators at the point of hire can reduce future recruitment costs and minimize the impact of attrition on school organizations and student learning. One low-cost way to screen applicants and learn about their beliefs, values, and pedagogy is through their short-essay writing samples. However, there is limited research…

We use a continuous improvement model to evaluate an information design assignment by analyzing 120 student drafts and finals alongside instructor feedback. Using data from across sections (N = 118), we illustrate a process focused on improving student learning that other technical and professional communication program administrators and faculty…

The new era of generative artificial intelligence has sparked the blossoming academic fireworks in the realm of education and information technologies. Driven by natural language processing (NLP), automated writing evaluation (AWE) tools become a ubiquitous practice in intelligent computer-assisted language learning (CALL) environments. Based on…

This study examines the potential to use non-expert, crowd-sourced raters to score essays by comparing expert raters' and crowd-sourced raters' assessments of writing quality. Expert raters and crowd-sourced raters scored 400 essays using a standardised holistic rubric and comparative judgement (pairwise ratings) scoring techniques, respectively.…

Background: Learning to write the complex academic language (AL) associated with a discipline (like science) is a critical task in education, with middle school being a key developmental period. However, we need more research to guide how we assess students' learning to write AL, especially if we want to create assessment that guides more…

The evaluation of student essay corrections has become a focal point in understanding the evolving role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education. This study aims to assess the accuracy, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of ChatGPT's essay correction compared to human correction, with a primary focus on identifying and rectifying grammatical…

In this article, I think with trains to reflect about education, its rhythms, trajectories, and the possibilities that "attentive looking through windows" can afford us in moving toward just futures. Using two of Alfonsina Storni's poems, the yellow train of "Cien años de soledad" as well as educational philosophy, I argue that…

Generative artificial intelligence technologies, such as ChatGPT, bring an unprecedented change in education by leveraging the power of natural language processing and machine learning. Employing ChatGPT to assist with marking written assessment presents multiple advantages including scalability, improved consistency, eliminating biases associated…

Educators are faced with many decisions regarding supporting students' writing. While writing achievement and curriculum-based measure scores provide numbers that are important for high-stakes decisions like determining special education eligibility, they do not provide educators with information on a student's explicit instruction needs. Written…

Current approaches used in educational research and practice to evaluate the quality of written arguments often rely on structural analysis. In such assessments, credit is awarded for the presence of structural elements of an argument, such as claims, evidence, and rebuttals. In this article, we discuss limitations of such approaches, including…

This paper explores the growing complexity of detecting and differentiating generative AI from other AI interventions. Initially prompted by noticing how tools like Grammarly were being flagged by AI detection software, it examines how these popular tools such as Grammarly, EditPad, Writefull, and AI models such as ChatGPT and Microsoft Bing…

Depending on the nature of comments made during peer review of academic writing, students may be able to evaluate and revise their performance. Therefore, it is essential to explore how the content of comments affects student writing. Since peer review is a process of interaction, it is critical to understand how comments affect student academic…

This paper introduces REFLECTSUMM, a novel summarization dataset specifically designed for summarizing students' reflective writing. The goal of REFLECTSUMM is to facilitate developing and evaluating novel summarization techniques tailored to real-world scenarios with little training data, with potential implications in the opinion summarization…

Assessing students' writing performance is essential to adequately monitor and promote individual writing development, but it is also a challenge. The present research investigates a benchmark rating procedure for assessing texts written by upper-elementary students. In two studies we examined whether a benchmark rating procedure (1) leads to…

Students are expected to interpret the complexities and nuances of literary texts yet might struggle with interpreting texts in ways that are valued in literary studies. Examining students' language choices can support instructors and students with developing concrete, explicit understandings of the ways language creates meanings in discourse.…