May 6, 2024
Respond Card Grading in Speakable
Discover the grading power of Speakable! Whether it's simple pass/fail or detailed rubrics, customize your assessments for student success.

Overview

Response card grading on Speakable used to be a bit of a mystery. The AI would determine whether a student's response was acceptable based on vague criteria such as "the student answered the teacher's question" and "there shouldn't be too many grammar errors in the response". However, with the introduction of new response card grading features, you now have direct control over how your students' responses are graded. No more guessing about the AI's grading process!

Speakable now lets you customize the grading criteria for your students' responses to prompts. The method you choose should be based on the prompt's complexity and the level of detail you want in the response analysis.

Our Solution

Speakable now has two grading methods for the respond cards (both spoken and written responses

1. Simple Grading Method

“Simple” grading Method - pass / fail
What is it?

The simple grading method provides a basic outline of a passing response. It employs a straightforward pass/fail approach. If a student meets the criteria outlined in this method, they receive full points for their responses. If they do not meet the criteria, they are prompted to try again, provided they are in practice mode.

When should I use it?

The simple grading method is versatile and can be applied to any type of prompt. The extent of its usage often depends on the desired depth of analysis for the student's response.

Here are some example prompts and grading criteria that work well with this method:
Example #1: Simple PromptsSimple short answer prompts or Q & A
Example #2: Prompts with ImagesRespond cards where the student’s response involves the attached image. You must add an example description of the image for the AI to understand the context.
Simple Grading Method Conclusion

Simple grading facilitates a fast, concise, yet powerful method to challenge your students with prompts that fit your needs. Students will get graded on what matters most to you!

2. Rubric Grading Method

Rubric” grading Method - pass / fail OR percent score

What is it?

Rubrics are sets of grading criteria that let you refine the way our AI analyzes and scores your student's responses to a specific prompt. You can use one of Speakable's default rubrics, create your own with AI, or build one from scratch. For grading, you have two options: pass / fail OR a percent score. For pass / fail you must select a “passing score”. For a percentage score, the students score will be calculated based on the results of the rubric.

When should I use a rubric?

If you need to evaluate extended student responses, such as 1-3 minute recordings or lengthy text responses, a rubric could be a suitable choice. This tool is also helpful if your school or district uses standardized rubrics for assessing speaking exercises. Once created, you can apply these rubrics to any response cards. The AI will then evaluate your students' responses based on the rubric's criteria. Let's explore a few scenarios where using a rubric could be advantageous.

Example #1: You’re targeting specific language use

In the rubric example, students are graded based on their use of the future tense in Spanish. The rubric enables the AI to analyze student transcripts and select a score for "Accuracy of Conjugation". If a student makes no future tense grammar errors, the AI selects the "Proficient" level and awards two points. The same process applies for the "Appropriateness and Context" criteria. The student's final score for the response is calculated by dividing the points earned by the total rubric points.

The prompt and the student’s response

The results: After a student submits their answer, it's evaluated according to the rubric. The student will receive their score (e.g., 2/4), a summary of the evaluation, and Grammar Insights. By clicking on the score area, the student can access a rubric results panel to view the score for each criterion.

Rubric Results Panel: Upon clicking on the score, the student will be able to see the details of their score. Each grading criteria is analyzed individually and a justification is provided for why that criteria was picked.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Speakable offers two robust grading methods to customize and optimize the evaluation of students' spoken and written responses. The simple grading method provides a basic, pass/fail grading system that is suitable for most types of prompts, while the rubric grading method allows for a more detailed evaluation particularly useful for longer responses or when targeting specific language use. These grading methods can be personalized to fit specific needs, thus enhancing the objectivity and consistency of the evaluation process.

Example #2: Standards based scoring (AP Email Writing, WIDA, ACTFL rubrics, etc)

If your students are preparing for standardized exams, or if you wish to use an existing standardized rubric for a speaking or writing activity, you can evaluate your students' responses based on these criteria. In this example, we'll create a simple rubric that reflects the criteria analyzed by ACTFL.

The Prompt and Response
The Results

Rubric Grading Method Conclusion

Speakable rubrics offer a flexible and robust method to simplify complex evaluation tasks. The ability to create your own rubrics allows you to consistently and objectively assess speaking or writing competencies. Feel free to construct your own using our rubric builder.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Speakable offers two robust grading methods to customize and optimize the evaluation of students' spoken and written responses. The simple grading method provides a basic, pass/fail grading system that is suitable for most types of prompts, while the rubric grading method allows for a more detailed evaluation particularly useful for longer responses or when targeting specific language use. These grading methods can be personalized to fit specific needs, thus enhancing the objectivity and consistency of the evaluation process.