Ai is the new TA
Published April 13, 2025
Leveraging AI for Efficient and Insightful Grading
Teaching implies learning, and learning means gaining new abilities—be it answering a question, solving a problem, or performing a task. But assessing our own work objectively? Nearly impossible. That’s where AI steps in.
Personally, AI can serve as your caring yet firm teacher, providing immediate, detailed assessments. Professionally, AI acts as my Teaching Assistant, efficiently grading student projects, highlighting strengths, and pinpointing areas for improvement.
Today, I rapidly prototyped an AI-assisted grading workflow using OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4o. Privacy was critical—ensure your “Chat History & Training” setting is OFF. Remember, the content you enter stays within your session and is not retained or shared.
Here’s a quick breakdown:
• Define Your Rubric: Clearly establish grading criteria (clarity, creativity, analytical depth).
• Craft a Prompt: “Act as a professor grading a group project based on [your rubric]. Provide concise feedback and a numeric score.”
• Test and Refine: Paste a sample student project into ChatGPT, iterate, and refine your prompt.
• Scale Up: Automate by integrating prompts into Canvas LMS and streamline further with Python scripts using Canvas API.
My first trial took 18 minutes, second 10, and by the third attempt, I was down to 8 minutes—keeping the human touch firmly in the loop.
Ready to enhance your grading process with AI?
Share your experiences or reach out if you want tips on getting started!
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