«G-Rubric or the automatic evaluation of students' “open” responses as a tool for teaching and learning»

Abstract

G-Rubric is a web solution based on academic writing and formative evaluation to automatically evaluate discursive texts (“open” answers from students) of any educational level, subject, degree of difficulty and length. G-Rubric is on the Internet and its access is universal; it is always available, its results are instantaneous and it never gets tired. G-Rubric is a multilingual tool focused on student learning, offering exercises with multiple assessment opportunities followed by a numerical grade on the correctness and sufficiency of the content of the “open” response evaluated; detailed feedback as a guide for improvement; and a stochastic score on the quality of writing and writing style (response).

G-Rubric, its materials and how to use it, are ordered according to a cognitive instruction model, where the guided practice of writing in combination with the formative assessment in real time, becomes an exceptional learning tool for the acquisition of thematic knowledge and the development of thinking skills. In order for the study content to make sense to the student, G-Rubric conforms to an ordered work sequence made up of the following tasks: Reading, Reflection, Response (elaboration), Evaluation, Review and Improvement (elaboration of a new response) . G-Rubric uses the services of various APIs (Application Programming Interface): (1) GallitoAPI, (2) SLM Service, (3) Rule Service and (4) Dialog Manager.

Bio

José María Luzón is a teacher from the University of Salamanca (1984), a Bachelor of Psychology from UAM (1990) and a Doctor of Psychology from UNED (2006). He has developed his professional activity in different companies and specialized educational centers such as the Telefónica Group (1980-1996) or the Cervantes Institute (1998-2001) (Ministry of Foreign Affairs). He has been a predoctoral fellow at the University Institute of Distance Education at UNED (1996-1998), Advisor on Distance Methodology and NN.TT. from the Cervantes Virtual Center of the Cervantes Institute (2000-2002). He has been a professor in the Department of Evolutionary and Educational Psychology at the UNED Faculty of Psychology since late 2001. His teaching and research interest has been oriented towards the cognitive processes that make understanding and learning possible, and especially when they have place in technology mediated environments. His recent research focuses on the multimedia nature of learning materials and instructional models based on formal writing and formative (automatic) assessment. He is co-founder of Semantia Lab, a technology-based startup that was born with the support of UNED’s OTRI.