Automatically grade essay questions

[VanessaFarrell]

Is there a way for canvas to automatically grade an essay question? 

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

@VanessaFarrell ...

To my knowledge, no.  How would Canvas automatically grade essay questions?  Essays generally vary from one student to the next, and so there's bound to be a variety of essay paragraphs, and so expecting Canvas to grade an essay wouldn't seem possible to me.  Are you maybe looking to look for plagiarism among your students for essay questions within a Canvas Quiz?  Could you please provide an example of how you see an essay question auto-graded in a Canvas Quiz?  Looking forward to hearing back from you soon.

[lovebrad]

Yes, it is useful to have them do reflective writing or document ideas in an open-text way that does not need my input really, as what I'm getting them to do is demonstrate sitting with ideas. Sometimes, in fact, on intense topics, I don't want to read their responses because their growth is about reflecting sincerely on hard moments and how what we're doing in class (say, growth mindset) might help. 

[UCinstructor]

I would also like the option to grade essay questions automatically.  For instance, I would like to be able to give points to anyone who answered the question, regardless of the content of the answer.  

[adarsh]

Hi @Chris_Hofer - Been a while since you posted this response but one approach I just came across is checking for key words. It is similar to the FITB in that Canvas might just check to ensure that specific key words are included in the response. For instance, if the question were, "Describe the physiological effects of hypothermia on the human body and explain how the body responds to prolonged exposure to cold temperatures." I could include response key words such as "shivering", "vasoconstriction", and "decreased metabolic rate" as possible responses to indicate a correct answer.