At least once a year, student's get into a big examination hall to sit paper based exams. Just collating and organising these scripts takes hours, but the thought of sitting down and grading them all causes most a lot of stress.
When using more innovative tools to grade work, going back to pen and paper can feel very frustrating. No systems of consistency. No automatic summation of marks. No easy way to grade per question.
Scanning in scripts may seem like a daunting task, but it can be quicker and easier than you think. In fact, many lecturers consider it a valuable investment that saves them time if they use the right tools.
Speaking of tools, you'll need a good scanner and guillotine to get started. Fortunately, our Graide exam package includes both of these items, so you don't have to worry about making an extra investment.
Our recommended scanner (Fujitsu Scansnap IX1400 or for high scale CANON DR-G2140) is reliable and produces high-quality scans that are easy to read and grade. With its user-friendly software and multiple scanning options, it's an excellent choice for both small and large batches of exam scripts.
When it comes to the guillotine, we recommend the Dahle 848 (link contains a video of use) that is precise, easy to use, and able to handle multiple pages at once. This will make the process of cutting and organising your scanned scripts a breeze.
How long does it take to scan scripts?
One of the main concerns many lecturers have when considering scanning in exam scripts is how long the process will take. Fortunately, with the right tools and approach, scanning in scripts can be a surprisingly quick and efficient process.
To give you an idea of just how fast scanning in scripts can be, let's take a look at a test run by Austin Tomlinson. In this test, he scanned 126 scripts, each consisting of 12 pages, in just 18 minutes. Here are some more details:
When you add up the scanning and trimming times, the total time per script was just 14.3 seconds, which could be reduced to 9.5 seconds with a guillotine. We estimate that the unit cost per script would be 5.3p (whilst paying someone £20 / hour).
Most importantly, there were no errors during the entire scanning process. This suggests an error rate of less than 0.07%, which is impressive and highlights the reliability and accuracy of the recommended scanning tools.
Subsequently, he ran another 77 scripts with the same process and scaled times. When human error resulted in a script being scanned incorrectly, the scanner notified them of the mistake and it was easily rectified.
As you can see, scanning in scripts can be a very quick process with the right tools and approach.
Uploading the scans into Graide
Once you've scanned in your exam scripts, the next step is to upload them into Graide for processing and grading. Here's a step-by-step guide to help you through the process:
Setup
Processing
Once you've scanned in all of your booklets and highlighted the relevant areas, you can upload them to Graide for processing. Make sure to upload a whole number of booklets, as this helps ensure that everything is processed accurately.
With everything processed and checked, you're ready to start grading your exam.
If you are looking for an efficient and time-saving way to grade university exams, Graide is the solution. Here are some of the ways in which Graide can help you save time:
There are other workflow benefits too: