题目内容：
Essay．GradingSoftwareOffersProfessorsaBreak
A．Imaginetakingacollegeexam，and，insteadofhandinginabluebookandgettingagradefromaprofessorafewweekslater，clickingthe“send”buttonwhenyouaredoneandreceivingagradebackinstantly，youressayscoredbyasoftwareprogram．Andthen，insteadofbeingdonewiththatexam，imaginethatthesystemwouldimmediatelyletyourewritethetesttotrytoimproveyourgrade．
B．EDX，thenonprofitenterprisefoundedbyHarvardandtheMassachusettsInstituteofTechnology(MIT)tooffercoursesontheInternet，hasjustintroducedsuchasystemandwillmakeitsautomated(自动的)softwareavailablefreeontheWebtoanyinstitutionthatwantstouseit．Thesoftwareusesartificialintelligencetogradestudentessaysandshortwrittenanswers，freeingprofessorsforothertasks．
C．Thenewservicewillbringtheeducationalconsortium(联盟)intoagrowingconflictovertheroleofautomationineducation．Althoughautomatedgradingsystemsformultiple—choiceandtrue—falsetestsarenowwidespread，theuseofartificialintelligencetechnologytogradeessayanswershasnotyetreceivedwidespreadacceptancebyeducatorsandhasmanycritics．
D．AnantAgarwal，anelectricalengineerwhoispresidentofEDX，predictedthattheinstant—gradingsoftwarewouldbeausefulteachingtoolenablingstudentstotaketestsandwriteessaysoverandoverandimprovethequalityoftheiranswers．Hesaidthetechnologywouldofferdistinctadvantagesoverthetraditionalclassroomsystem，wherestudentsoftenwaitdaysorweekslorgrades．“Thereisahugevalueinlearningwithinstantfeedback，”Dr．Agarwalsaid．“Studentsaretellingustheylearnmuchbetterwithinstantfeedback．”
E．Butskeptics(怀疑者)saytheautomatedsystemisnomatchforliveteachers．Onelongtimecritic，LesPerelman，hasdrawnnationalattentionseveraltimesforputtingtogethernonsenseessaysthathavefooledsoftwaregradingprogramsintogivinghighmarks．Hehasalsobeenhighlycriticalofstudiesclaimingthatthesoftwarecompareswelltohumangraders．
F．Heisamongagroupofeducatorswholastmonthbegancirculatingapetition(呼吁)opposingautomatedassessmentsoftware．Thegroup．whichcallsitselfProfessionalsAgainstMachineScoringofStudentEssaysinHigh—StakesAssessment，hascollectednearly2，000signatures，includingsomefromfamouspeoplelikeNoanlChomsky．
G．“Let’sfacetherealitiesofautomaticessayscorin9，”thegroup’sstatementreadsinpart．“Computerscannot‘read．’Theycannotmeasuretheessentialsofeffectivewrittencommunication：accuracy．reasonin9，adequacyofevidence，goodsense，ethical(伦理的)position，convincingargument，meaningfulorganization，andclarity，amongothers．”
H)ButEdXexpectsitssoftwaretobeadoptedwidelybyschoolsanduniversities．ItoffersfreeonlineclassesfromHarvard．MITandtheUniversityofCalifornia—Berkeley；thisfall，itwilladdclassesfromWellesley．GeorgetownandtheUniversityofTexas．Inall，12universitiesparticipateinEDX，whichofferscertificatesforcoursecompletionandhassaidthatitplanstocontinuetoexpandnextyear，includingaddinginternationalschools．
I．TheEDXassessmenttoolrequireshumanteachers，orgraders，tofirstgradel00essaysoressayquestions．Thesystemthenusesavarietyofmachine—learningtechniquestotrainitselftobeabletogradeanynumberofessaysoranswersautomaticallyandalmostinstantly．Thesoftwarewillassignagradedependingonthescoringsystemcreatedbytheteacher，whetheritisalettergradeornumerical(数字的)rank．
J．EDXisnotthefirsttousetheautomatedassessmenttechnology，whichdatestoearlycomputersinthel960s．Thereisnowarangeofcompaniesofferingcommercialprogramstogradewrittentestanswers，andfourstates--Louisiana，NorthDakota，UtahandWestVirginia--areusingsomeform
ofthetechnologyinsecondaryschools．Afifth，Indiana，hasexperimentedwithit．Insomecasesthesoftwareisusedasa“secondreader．”tocheckthereliabilityofthehumangraders．
K．ButthegrowinginfluenceoftheEDxconsortiumtosetstandardsislikelytogivethetechnologyaboost．OnTuesday，StanfordannouncedthatitwouldworkwithEDXtodevelopajointeducationalsystemthatwillmakeuseoftheautomatedassessmenttechnology．
L．Twostart．ups．CourseraandUdacity，recentlyfoundedbyStanfordfacultymemberstocreate“massiveopenonlinecourses，”0rMOOCs，arealsocommittedtoautomatedassessmentsystemsbecauseofthevalueofinstantfeedback．‘‘Itallowsstudentstogetimmediatefeedbackontheir
work．sothatlearningturnsintoagame，withstudentsnaturallygravitating(吸引)towardresubmittingtheworkuntiltheygetitright，”saidDaphneKoller，acomputerscientistandafounderofCoursera．
M．LastyeartheHewlettFoundation，agrant—maltingorganizationsetupbyoneoftheHewlettPackardfoundersandhiswife．sponsoredtwo$100，000prizesaimedatimprovingsoftwarethatgradesessaysandshortanswers．Morethanl50teamsenteredeachcategory．AwinnerofoneoftheHewlettcontests．VikParuchuri，washiredbyE(Ⅸtohelpdesignitsassessmentsoftware．
N．“OneofourfocusesistohelpMdslearnhowtothinkcritically，”saidVictorVuchic，aprogramofficerattheHewlettFoundation．“It’sprobablyimpossibletodothatwithmultiple—choicetestsThechallengeisthatthisrequireshumangraders，andsotheycostalotmoreandtheytakealotmoretime．“
O．MarkD．Shermis，aprofessorattheUniversityofAkroninOhi0．supervisedtheHewlettFoundation’scontestonautomatedessayscoringandwroteapaperabouttheexperiment．Inhisview，thetechnology--thoughimperfect--hasaplaceineducationalsettings．
P．Withincreasinglylargeclasses，itisimpossibleformostteacherstogivestudentsmeaningfulfeedbackonwritingassignments，hesaid．Plus，henoted，criticsofthetechnologyhavetendedtocomefromthenation’sbestuniversities，wherethelevelofteachingismuchbetterthanatnlostschools．
Q)“Oftentheycomefromveryfamousinstitutionswhere，infact，theydoamuchbetter．jobofprovidingfeedbackthanamachineevercould，”Dr．Shermissaid．“Thereseemstobealackofappreciationofwhatisactuallygoingonintherealworld．”
Someprofessionalsineducationarecollectingsignaturestovoicetheiroppositiontoantomatedessaygrading．
参考答案：
答案解析：