Edited character strings

Abstract

An assessment system may present one or more string interaction problems to each of a plurality of students. Students may provide answers to string interaction problems in the form of string edits that, for example, identify deletions, additions, or revisions to a text string of each respective string interaction problem. The assessment system may normalize each string edit by converting each string edit into a student range edit. Each student range edit defines a replacement text string (which could be an empty text string) to be inserted within a range of reference locations relative to an original text string of the string interaction problem (which likewise could be an empty text string). An assessor may associate feedback objects with student range edits that match or, in some embodiments, are within a predetermined distance of an assessor-defined range edit.

1 . An automated grading system for string edited assessments, comprising:
 (I) an administration subsystem to:
 (A) transmit, for electronic display,
 (i) a string interaction problem that includes a text string in a string data structure, 
 (ii) editing constraints that define a whitelist of ranges in the text string that can be edited, 
 (iii) instructions for each of a large plurality of students to provide an answer by editing at least a portion of the text string included in the editing constraints, and 
 (iv) a visual indication of the whitelist of ranges in the text string that can be edited, and 
 
 (B) receive student string edits as answers to the string interaction problem from the plurality of students; 
   (II) a grading subsystem to:
 (A) display at least the string interaction problem, 
 (B) display a first student string edit to a human grader, 
 (C) receive a first feedback object from the human grader provided interactively with respect to the displayed string interaction problem, and 
 (D) automatically create a string answer grade rule by associating the first student string edit with the first feedback object provided interactively by the human grader with respect to the displayed string interaction problem. 
   
     
     
         2 . The automated grading system of  claim 1 , wherein the string answer grade rule includes the first student string edit, the first feedback object, and a distance threshold. 
     
     
         3 . The automated grading system of  claim 1 , wherein each of the student string edits comprises one of: paired tags, an XML markup, an HTML markup, an RTF file, and a propriety encoding format. 
     
     
         4 . The automated grading system of  claim 1 , wherein each of the student string edits comprises a replacement of at least one word of the text string of the string interaction problem. 
     
     
         5 . The automated grading system of  claim 1 , wherein the first feedback object comprises one of a letter grade, a numerical grade, and a pass/fail indication. 
     
     
         6 . The automated grading system of  claim 1 , wherein the first feedback object comprises one of a written explanation and an audio explanation. 
     
     
         7 - 16 . (canceled) 
     
     
         17 . The automated grading system of  claim 1 , wherein the grading subsystem is configured to display:
 unedited text of the string interaction problem, and   edited text of the student string edit visually adjacent to the unedited text.   
     
     
         18 . The automated grading system of  claim 17 , wherein the unedited text in the displayed string interaction problem is highlighted to visually identify the whitelist of ranges in the text that can be edited. 
     
     
         19 . The automated grading system of  claim 18 , wherein the edited text of the student string edit is also highlighted. 
     
     
         20 . The automated grading system of  claim 1 , wherein the grading subsystem is configured to display:
 unedited text of the string interaction problem highlighted to visually identify the whitelist of ranges in the text that can be edited, and   only the changed portion of the student string edit rendered visually adjacent to the highlighted whitelist of ranges in the text that can be edited.   
     
     
         21 . The automated grading system of  claim 20 , wherein the highlighted whitelist of ranges in the text that can be edited is highlighted as a strikethrough. 
     
     
         22 . The automated grading system of  claim 21 , wherein the changed portion of the student string edit is underlined and rendered visually adjacent to the strikethrough of the whitelist of ranges in the text that can be edited. 
     
     
         23 . The automated grading system of  claim 20 , wherein the highlighted whitelist of ranges in the text that can be edited is highlighted with a first color. 
     
     
         24 . The automated grading system of  claim 23 , wherein the changed portion of the student string edit is highlighted with a second color and rendered visually adjacent to the highlighted first color of whitelist of ranges in the text that can be edited. 
     
     
         25 . An automated grading system, comprising:
 an administration subsystem to:
 transmit, for electronic display:
 a string interaction problem that includes a text string in a string data structure with a first portion of the text string highlighted to indicate that it can be edited and second portion of the text string not highlighted to indicate that it cannot be edited, and 
 instructions for each of a large plurality of students to provide an answer by editing the highlighted portion of the text string; and 
 
 receive student string edits as answers to the string interaction problem from the plurality of students; and 
   a grading subsystem to:
 display the string interaction problem to a human grader with the first portion of the text that can be edited in strikethrough and a first student string edit underlined adjacent to the strikethrough text; 
 receive a first feedback object from the human grader provided interactively with respect to the displayed string interaction problem; 
 create a string answer grade rule by associating the first student string edit with the first feedback object provided interactively by the human grader with respect to the displayed string interaction problem; and 
 automatically apply the created string answer grade rule to at least a second student string edit without any action by the human grader, including automatically associating the first feedback object with the second student string edit. 
   
     
     
         26 . An automated grading system, comprising:
 an administration subsystem to:
 transmit, for electronic display:
 a string interaction problem that includes a text string in a string data structure with a first portion of the text string identified for editing, and 
 instructions for each of a large plurality of students to provide an answer by editing the highlighted portion of the text string; and 
 
 receive student string edits as answers to the string interaction problem from the plurality of students; and 
   a grading subsystem to:
 display the string interaction problem to a human grader with the first portion of the text identified for editing highlighted in a first manner and a first student string edit highlighted in a second manner rendered adjacent thereto; 
 receive a first feedback object from the human grader provided interactively with respect to the displayed string interaction problem; 
 create a string answer grade rule by associating the first student string edit with the first feedback object provided interactively by the human grader with respect to the displayed string interaction problem; and 
 automatically apply the created string answer grade rule to at least a second student string edit without any action by the human grader, including automatically associating the first feedback object with the second student string edit.