TN univs to embrace AI to evaluate answer sheets
CHENNAI: Can AI be an effective tool in evaluating answer sheets? Yes, says Tamil Nadu Higher Education Department, which is all set to introduce it in state-run universities. AI-based evaluation is a technology process where Artificial Intelligence will be used to correct students’ answers accurately.
At present the answer sheets are evaluated manually and online in universities and higher educational institutions, involving professors and teaching staff of the colleges. The authorities have found that the manual evaluation of answer sheets is time-consuming, and takes a minimum of half an hour per sheet. Similarly, the introduction of several new exam models including compulsory and optional questions will further consume much time of the professors involved in the evaluation.
A senior official from the Higher Education Department told DT Next that though the evaluation of answer sheets was done properly, there were complaints and errors were noticed when the students went for revaluation. “The AI could correct thousands of answer sheets including descriptive ones in minutes, which highly reduces the time,” he added.
Explaining the new AI evaluation system, the official said the answer sheets will be scanned and fed into the AI evaluation software, which has all the correct stored answers. “The software will compare both the stored data and the student’s answers and generate marks and the grade accordingly”.
Claiming that the AI-based evaluation will completely eradicate malpractices, he said: “This advanced system could easily generate an assessment of each student and even produce the overall rank list”.
Pointing out that the AI-based system is being experimented with by a few institutions, the official said: “The answer sheets will also be evaluated through advanced mobile apps, which could be downloaded by the professors”.
A senior AI software engineer in the city, P Sarath, said the AI-based answer sheet evaluation will reduce human errors. “If the software is 100 per cent perfect without any bugs, the AI could handle large volumes of data simultaneously”. He claimed that by introducing AI in the answer sheet evaluation, the professors could focus and concentrate more on classroom sessions.
By making use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), we can correct thousands of answer sheets, including descriptive ones, in minutes, bringing down time taken for evaluation in a big way
—Senior official, Higher Education Department