Human assessment of student work at scale: pedagogy, privacy, and community

TitleHuman assessment of student work at scale: pedagogy, privacy, and community
Faculty/College/UnitScience
StatusActive
Duration3 Years
Initiation04/01/2022
Project Summary

Plom is open-source software for large-scale online grading by humans, developed by the Mathematics Department and supported through the TLEF. It offers streamlined workflows for TAs to provide feedback to students. For instructors, Plom offers test preparation, robust scanning logistics, and potential insight into TA grading practices and student learning.

Plom has been used to mark over 100k papers in over 80 classes. As an Open Education Resource, its features, and pedagogical potential have garnered significant interest at UBC and beyond.

With this Large TLEF, we seek to ramp-up development to broaden Plom’s reach and impact by:

  • creating web interfaces to improve instructor usability
  • improving the quality of feedback to students;
  • scaling up use, and expanding outside of Mathematics.

The further development of Plom will help provide students with consistent personalized feedback, improved data-privacy, and employment opportunities to help develop and deploy Plom across courses.

Funding Details
Year 1: Project YearYear 1
Year 1: Funding Year2022/2023
Year 1: Project TypeLarge TLEF
Year 1: Principal InvestigatorColin Macdonald
Year 1: Funded Amount162,152
Year 1: Team Members

Colin Macdonald, Associate Professor, Mathematics, Faculty of Science
Andrew Rechnitzer, Professor, Mathematics, Faculty of Science
Matt Coles, Educational Program Director, Mathematics, Faculty of Science
Elyse Yeager, Associate Professor of Teaching, Mathematics, Faculty of Science
Sathish Gopalakrishnan, Associate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science
Cinda Heeren, Professor of Teaching, Computer Science, Faculty of Science
Firas Moosvi, Lecturer, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics, UBC Okanagan
Jay Wickenden, Associate Professor of Teaching, Chemistry, Faculty of Science
Christoph Ortner, Professor, Mathematics, Faculty of Science
Sunita Chowrira, Professor of Teaching, Botany, Faculty of Science
Celeste Leander, Professor of Teaching, Botany, Faculty of Science

Year 2: Project YearYear 2
Year 2: Funding Year2023/2024
Year 2: Project TypeLarge TLEF
Year 2: Principal InvestigatorColin Macdonald
Year 2: Funded Amount77,446
Year 2: Team Members

Colin Macdonald, Associate Professor, Mathematics, Faculty of Science
Andrew Rechnitzer, Professor, Mathematics, Faculty of Science
Matt Coles, Educational Program Director, Mathematics, Faculty of Science
Elyse Yeager, Associate Professor of Teaching, Mathematics, Faculty of Science
Stefan A Reinsberg, Associate Professor, Physics, Faculty of Science
Sathish Gopalakrishnan, Associate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science
Cinda Heeren, Professor of Teaching, Computer Science, Faculty of Science
Firas Moosvi, Lecturer, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics, UBC Okanagan
Jay Wickenden, Associate Professor of Teaching, Chemistry, Faculty of Science
Christoph Ortner, Professor, Mathematics, Faculty of Science
Sunita Chowrira, Professor of Teaching, Botany, Faculty of Science
Celeste Leander, Professor of Teaching, Botany, Faculty of Science
Lindsey Daniels, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Mathematics, Faculty of Science

Year 3: Project YearYear 3
Year 3: Funding Year2024/2025
Year 3: Project TypeLarge TLEF
Year 3: Principal InvestigatorColin Macdonald
Year 3: Funded Amount10,402
Year 3: Team Members

Colin Macdonald, Associate Professor, Mathematics, Faculty of Science
Andrew Rechnitzer, Professor, Mathematics, Faculty of Science
Matt Coles, Educational Program Director, Mathematics, Faculty of Science
Negar Harandi, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science
Gigi Lau, Biology Program Manager, Faculty of Science
Elyse Yeager, Associate Professor of Teaching, Mathematics, Faculty of Science
Lindsey Daniels, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Mathematics, Faculty of Science
Stefan A. Reinsberg, Associate Professor, Physics, Faculty of Science
Sathish Gopalakrishnan, Associate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science
Cinda Heeren, Professor of Teaching, Computer Science, Faculty of Science
Firas Moosvi, Lecturer, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics, UBC Okanagan
Jay Wickenden, Associate Professor of Teaching, Chemistry, Faculty of Science
Christoph Ortner, Professor, Mathematics, Faculty of Science
Sunita Chowrira, Professor of Teaching, Botany, Faculty of Science
Celeste Leander, Professor of Teaching, Botany, Faculty of Science