Can AI Mark Essays and Other Questions Answered

Marking papers and assessing students' homework rank among teachers' most onerous tasks. One that takes up much of their weekends and, often, most of their evenings. But now, AI marking tools promise an end to all that. Here, we look at the benefits and challenges these tools pose, as well as how they work and which ones to implement in your classes.

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Understanding AI Marking

[Language] is an organic thing.

E. L. James, author

If we accept that language is organic - something that grows, changes, and expresses the human experience, it's hard to fathom that a machine can effectively monitor and flag incorrect language use. To reduce that cognitive dissonance, understanding how these AI tools work is vital.

How Did Grading Go Digital?

Automatic marking first emerged in the 1950s, when the earliest optical mark recognition (OMR) devices entered the market¹. Those machines made it possible to score multiple-choice tests rapidly and accurately. Still today, many exam facilities rely on this technology to mark exams.

The next great leap in automated marking came in the late 1990s, with the invention of learning management systems (LMS). Platforms like Moodle, Canvas, and Blackboard allowed teachers to create quizzes; they could also score test questions, as long as the questions were objective.

Around 2010, digital paper exam grading systems emerged. These required more than a bit of input from human paper graders, who had to digitise paper-based exams. Still, their efforts reduced grading time and, as a bonus, they created and maintained permanent digital records of their work.

NLPs can assess complex assignments, including essays and creative projects. Platforms like GradeScope, Crowdmark, and Turnitin's Feedback Studio deliver consistent and immediate feedback. This saves students the agony of waiting for exam results and provides them with improvement pathways tailored to them.

What Is AI Marking and How Does It Work?

AI marking relies on NLP and machine learning to evaluate students' papers. It assesses the work's coherence and quality, and how closely it aligns with the rules and instructions (rubrics) teachers set up². Unlike the AI tools teachers might use to plan and prepare for lessons, marking tools require direct teacher input.

This overview makes it clear that the teacher is involved at every step of the assessment process. They must set marking criteria for each assessment cycle; this is not a one-and-done proposition. They will also go over the generated results to ensure accuracy and set feedback parameters.

The Benefits of AI Assessments

You might already be wondering how AI will save you time when you have to set rubrics, oversee its functions, and scan the results for fairness and accuracy. That's the first benefit we examine, after which we study other aspects that help teachers.

Time-Saving Efficiency

Statistics show that, through generating worksheets and taking on marking tasks, AI can streamline teachers' workflow, allowing them to manage their time more efficiently³. Naturally, everyone will travel the AI learning curve, including school administrators.

That might be more time-consuming in the short term. However, once teachers master the most useful AI tools, plugging in rubrics and using an AI report writer for teachers will become second nature.

Enhanced Feedback Capabilities

You've got to reach them to teach them.

Mary Kim Schreck, author and educational consultant

When you have 30 papers to grade per class and more than 20 periods per week, you don't have time for any more feedback than a grade. And, perhaps, a smiley face at the top of deserving students' papers. But you're the type of teacher who wants to reach the students, and providing feedback is a fine way to do so.

Granted, AI providing feedback isn't you doing so. Still, AI marking frees up your time to give feedback as you review AI's results. Or as you give your students their papers back.

Consistently Objective

They don't pay me to like the kids.

Anonymous teacher

Let's face it: sometimes, it's hard for teachers to remain objective. They get tired, overwhelmed, and sometimes they just can't stomach reviewing yet another stack of papers.

To be sure, nobody is blaming teachers for being human, for having an occasional bad day, or for sometimes not liking their students. By incorporating AI into teachers' duties, the Department for Education (DfE) aims to help teachers not feel so burdened so they can remain objective. The DfE's guide to AI for teachers underscores that fact.

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AI Marker Challenges and Considerations

As great as AI promises are - not just for education, but also for other aspects of our digital lives, we have plenty to be concerned about. For teachers who wonder, "Can AI mark essays?", these are the points to ponder.

Systems Integration

Does your school already have automated platforms and educational technology (EdTech) in its classrooms? If so, it might be a challenge to integrate AI assessment tools. For teachers, the biggest concern would be system glitches, as they likely would not be the ones to ensure system interoperability.

The DfE is explicit in its guidelines for AI in schools, including which systems and utilities may be available. Fortunately, it also provides pathways to mastery of these systems through training modules.

Accuracy and Reliability

Much like teachers, LLMs rely on continuous learning to function properly⁴. Should such a system fall into the 'catastrophic forgetting' trap, the results it delivers aren't likely to be either accurate or reliable.

This, too, would be more of a tech sector problem than anything teachers would have to fix. But, should such happen, teachers across the country would have to backtrack through the delivered results until they can detect where the faults began.

Privacy and Ethics

Student privacy and data protection are paramount concerns in all cases, but particularly with AI in the classrooms. Teachers must be ever-vigilant to not input any identifiable student data into their systems. Such includes gender, age, address, socioeconomic status, and even any comments about student behaviour.

Data points such as those listed above - age, gender, and others - create inadvertent patterns that AI may base its decisions on. Thus, we must ensure that any AI marker we use receives as little access as possible to such information.

Top AI Marking Tools

For the most part, the DfE is testing and selecting AI tools suitable for UK classrooms. It's rather good that they do so, because they need to plan teacher training for AI systems it deploys.

Still, teachers should have some input on the tools they might find effective, so they can make recommendations or requests for specific platforms. Where AI marking is concerned, these platforms stand out.

📛Platform name	😍Why it's great	🥇Additional information
Marking.ai	Reads even messy handwriting.	Aligned with AQA and EdExcel marking schemes. Generates 'Even better if' feedback. Perfect for English and Humanities.
TeachMateAI	Built to UK national curriculum specifications.	Offers curriculum-aligned feedback. Provides Ofsted-ready reports. Suitable for primary through KS3 general subjects.
Gradescope	Dedicated to STEM efficiency.	Perfect for maths, physics, and coding classes. AI-assisted answer clustering highlights patterns of incorrect answers, to better focus teaching directions.
CoGrader	Focuses on bias prevention.	It provides 'consistency alerts' when marking large batches of papers. Best for Humanities subjects, particularly history, religious education, and sociology.
MarkMe	Specifically geared towards GCSE students and teachers.	Instant marking with tailored feedback. Support for handwritten work.