Psihologija 2016 Volume 49, Issue 4, Pages: 469-482
https://doi.org/10.2298/PSI1604469S
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Automatic essay assessment: Effects on students’ acceptance and on learning-related characteristics
Seifried Eva (Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany)
Lenhard Wolfgang (University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany)
Spinath Birgit (Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany)
When capacity constraints hinder university instructors’ ability to give
feedback, software tools might provide a remedy. We analyzed students’
acceptance of automatic assessments and the development of learning-related
characteristics such as motivation, achievement aspirations, and subjective
learning. We randomly assigned university students to four groups that
differed with regard to the real and assumed source of assessment of
students’ texts (i.e., teaching assistant or software tool). Data from N =
300 students were analyzed. Assessments were less accepted when presumably
coming from the software tool. Students mostly preferred human graders over
computers in teaching in general, but this preference was weakened for some
situations when students assumed they were being assessed by the software
tool. Nevertheless, students saw some general merits to assessment by
computers, and the development of learning-related characteristics was not
affected by the real or assumed source of assessment. Thus, combining
feedback from software tools and human graders seems to be a feasible way to
expand feedback capacities in higher education.
Keywords: automatic essay scoring, acceptance, motivation, achievement aspirations, subjective learning, higher education