Feasibility of Machine Scoring of Concept Maps

Technology can clearly play a role in the assessment process, including administration of the assessment, scoring, and reporting of results, thus providing consistently high quality assessments, possibly at a reduced cost. Our approach to using technology for assessment is called “An Integrated Simulation Approach to Assessment.” One element of our integrated simulation is an online concept mapping construction and scoring system . . . (a) to permit students to both individually and collaboratively construct concept maps on the computer, and (b) to provide real-time scoring and feedback to students based upon an expert’s map. Clearly, computer administration [of concept maps on a large scale] is not feasible in schools without extensive computer resources. However, computerized scoring of paper-and-pencil administered concept maps should be a reasonable solution. In this report we explore the potential and costs of two technologies – scanning and voice recognition – to score paper-and-pencil-made concept maps.