Technology

Vantage: The Testing and Critique of a New Electronic Holistic Grading Application

                          

Abstract:

Vantage, a subsidiary of Cengage, is developing applications that can “learn” how to score student documents using a rubric-driven artificial intelligence. In the Spring 2008 semester, the presenters conducted an IRB-approved common final exam, collecting approximately 500 student writing samples to test the limits and abilities of the Vantage system. The presenters will discuss the relative merits and flaws of the system, and will offer their opinions on the system’s potential.

 

Target Audience:

Target audiences for the Vantage presentation include instructors who score written work, especially those who administer large-scale essay-style writing exams. Participants will be exposed to the latest in experimental holistic scoring technologies. They will also leave with a conceptual framework they can later apply to their own critiques of similar products. PowerPoint will be used to guide open discussions on the merits and potential of the Vantage system.

 

Learning Outcomes:

After attending this session, participants will understand

·         how the Vantage AI system works.

·         the current limitations of the system.

·         the potential of such systems in the future.

 

        Conducted by:

Teeanna Rizkallah

Teeanna Rizkallah, Ph.D is a lecturer in the Business Communication Program at California State University, Fullerton where she teaches courses in advanced and graduate business communication. Professionally, Teeanna has contributed as co-author or content writer for numerous textbooks and online writing products, in addition to providing consulting services to other writers of textbooks and business plans. In her free time she blogs, runs an online text-based game, and cares for two elderly cats and a graphic artist.

 

Dana Loewy

Dana Loewy, PhD teaches graduate and undergraduate Business Communication classes at Cal State Fullerton. She is also a well-published freelance translator, interpreter, and textbook author. Fluent in several languages, among them German and Czech, Dana has published critical articles and various poetry as well as prose translations, most notably the 1997 volume The Early Poetry of Jaroslav Seifert from Northwestern University Press. Since 2006, Dana has co-authored market-leading business communication textbooks with Mary Ellen Guffey.