Did You Know? Teachers Can "Cheat Back"

Back to list

Where I'm coming from: grading of handwritten homework is actually very labor intensive for the teacher or grader. What automation or AI exists to help people on the other side like teachers and graders with grading handwritten assignments?

Commercial Tools for Automating Handwritten Homework Grading

Gradescope

• Popular platform for educators that supports handwritten and digital submissions, including assignments and exams.

• Uses AI to group similar responses, speeding up feedback and grading workflows.

• Integrates with major LMS platforms to streamline assignment handling.AI In Education | BlogWikipedia

EssayGrader AI (also known as AI Essay Grader)

• Offers bulk essay grading, feedback, rubric-based evaluation, and AI/plagiarism detection.

• Notably includes a feature to grade handwritten essays—teachers can snap a photo or upload scanned assignments, and AI handles the grading based on rubrics.Essay Grader AI+1

CoGrader

• AI-powered essay grading system where teachers define or use preset rubrics.

• Offers integrations with Google Classroom, Canvas, and Schoology.

• Primarily designed for essays and typed submissions—not specifically handwritten—but effective for written work.cograder.com+1

StarGrader

• Designed for high school and higher education, it grades uploads such as PDFs or Word docs based on custom criteria.

• Does not specifically mention handwritten work, but its flexible file acceptance may allow scanned handwritten uploads.stargrader.com

Other Tools

• MagicSchool — A multipurpose AI teaching assistant offering rubrics, feedback tools, and quiz generation. Not focused on handwritten grading specifically.TOM DACCORD

• Smodin, Kangaroos AI, AI Grader App — These provide general AI grading and feedback features, some supporting handwritten input, though details are less clear.kangaroos.aiAI In Education | Blog

---

Research & Experimental Systems

BAGS (Automatic Homework Grading via Smartphone)

• Academic prototype that uses smartphone images of student work.

• Locates handwritten answer areas using computer vision and recognizes text for comparison with correct answers.

• Achieved ~91% accuracy in answer area detection.arXiv

AI-Assisted Handwritten Answer Grading Pipeline

• A recent study (August 2024) shows AI assistance reduced grading time by 31–33% per response by using intelligent detection and keyword highlighting in scanned answer sheets.arXiv

GPT-4 for Semi-Open Handwritten Math Answers

• Researchers used GPT-4 to grade university-level handwritten math responses.

• Found it reliable for initial grading, though human verification remains required.arXiv

---

Summary Table

Tool / Approach	Supports Handwritten Work?	Key Features
Gradescope	Yes	AI grouping, LMS integration, handwritten and digital support
EssayGrader AI	Yes	Photo upload, rubric grading, bulk evaluation
CoGrader	No*	Rubric-based essay grading, LMS integration
StarGrader	Possibly	Flexible file formats; manual upload + AI feedback
MagicSchool / Smodin / Others	Varies	General AI grading and feedback generators
BAGS (research)	Yes (prototype)	Smartphone imaging, answer area detection
AI-Assisted Pipeline (research)	Yes (prototype)	Keyword highlighting, significant time savings
GPT-4 for Math (research)	Yes (prototype)	LLM evaluation, initial grading, needs human oversight

* CoGrader handles essays but doesn’t explicitly support handwritten uploads.

---

Insights & Considerations

• Best Current Option: For reliable, practical handwritten grading, Gradescope and EssayGrader AI are standout choices due to live usage and image-upload capabilities.

• Research-Backed Potential: BAGS and other experimental pipelines demonstrate promising efficiency gains—but may not yet offer polished, user-ready platforms.

• Human-in-the-Loop Remains Crucial: Most systems emphasize that educators should review and approve AI-generated grades and feedback for accuracy and fairness.MIT Sloan Teaching TechnologiesAxios

• Ethical & Practical Considerations: Transparency, consistent rubrics, bias monitoring, data privacy, and clearly communicated use of AI are essential for responsible adoption.MIT Sloan Teaching TechnologiesAxios

---

Final Takeaway

For teachers seeking real-world tools to automate handwritten assignment grading today, your best bets are:

• Gradescope — well-established, supports handwritten work, efficient feedback.

• EssayGrader AI — easy photo uploads, bulk grading, rubric-based feedback.

• StarGrader — promising for flexible submissions, worth trial depending on format needs.

Meanwhile, academic pilots like BAGS or the GPT-4 math grader are exciting but not yet mainstream-ready.

How are people supposed to input the data into the app? Do students need to submit the pictures?

📸 How Data Gets Into the Grading System

1. Students Upload Photos or Scans

• Gradescope: Students can submit scanned PDFs or photos of handwritten homework through the web portal or app. The system aligns and organizes them for grading.

• EssayGrader AI: Teachers (or students, depending on setup) can snap a photo of an essay/assignment and upload it; AI takes over grading.

• StarGrader & CoGrader: Accept PDFs, DOCX, or scanned images uploaded by teacher or student.

🔑 Advantage: Students handle the digitization, saving the teacher from scanning piles of paper.
⚠️ Catch: Requires students to have access to a smartphone or scanner, and teachers need to enforce submission standards (legibility, format, etc.).

---

2. Teacher Collects & Uploads in Bulk

• Teacher gathers all handwritten assignments, scans them into PDFs (one per student, or even one big batch), then uploads to the platform.

• AI tools like Gradescope can auto-split and sort pages if each student labels their work properly.

• Research systems like BAGS use smartphone photos taken by the teacher to digitize responses quickly.

🔑 Advantage: Students don’t need to change their habits — they just hand in paper.
⚠️ Catch: Still some front-end work for the teacher (scanning, photographing), but once digitized the grading is faster.

---

3. Direct Digital Handwriting

• In some advanced classrooms, students write directly on tablets (iPads, Chromebooks with stylus, Wacom boards).

• Apps like Notability, OneNote, or LMS-integrated submission tools capture handwriting digitally.

• These digital ink files are much easier for AI to process (no bad lighting, skewed scans, etc.).

🔑 Advantage: Cleaner input, less manual scanning.
⚠️ Catch: Requires investment in devices and digital adoption.

---

🧩 Typical Workflow in Practice

For most teachers today, the hybrid approach is common:

1. Students submit PDFs/photos through LMS (Canvas, Google Classroom, Moodle) or directly into Gradescope.

2. If students submit paper, the teacher scans in bulk and uploads.

3. AI then:

• Segments responses per question

• Groups similar answers

• Suggests scores/feedback

• Teacher reviews and finalizes

Most modern office copiers can scan to a PDF file format, but no copier or multi-function printer (MFP) can automatically remove staples during the scanning process. The staples must be removed manually before documents are loaded into the automatic document feeder (ADF). 

For documents that require high-volume scanning, companies sometimes use a separate, dedicated "Instant Staple Remover," like those offered by Canon, to speed up the process.