This article addresses the functionality and application of the digital tool Gradescope so that you can make an educated decision on whether Gradescope meets the pedagogical needs of your classroom.
What is Gradescope?
Gradescope is a robust online grading platform that allows instructors to administer and grade exams and assignments. It can be used in an in-person, hybrid, or remote learning environment.
- Instructors are able to collect and grade the assignments and exams directly on the online platform, send and export grades, and analyze grade data.
- Students are able to access their assignments and exams online, submit them, and view grades and feedback all within the Gradescope framework.
Gradescope is integrated with UVACollab, so instructors are able to easily link grades from Gradescope with their Collab Gradebook. (For more info on setting up Gradescope in your Collab site, check out this article.)
What are the main advantages of Gradescope?
Some of the main advantages of Gradescope are:
- Robust grading capabilities that allow for flexibility and efficiency. Instructors using Gradescope report spending significantly less time grading.
- The ability to provide digital handwritten or typed feedback directly on student assignments.
- Ease of grading anonymously and coordinating grading efforts among multiple TAs/instructors.
- Flexible, dynamic, retroactive rubrics to make grading faster and more fair.
- A streamlined, organized interface to keep track of the grading status of all assignments.
- The ability for students (if enabled) to request regrades directly within Gradescope.
- Support for group submissions.
What differentiates Gradescope from Collab Tests and Quizzes?
Gradescope offers similar functionality to Collab's native Tests and Quizzes tool. The following chart compares the two tools to highlight differences that will hopefully inform your decision of which tool to use in your course.
| Tests and Quizzes | Gradescope |
|---|---|
| Options to create new assessments, import from a Word doc, duplicate assessments, and use question pools. | Options to create new assessments and duplicate assessments. Can post a PDF template as an exam/assignment, but cannot import questions from a Word doc. No question pools. |
| Options to mix multiple question types in one assessment. | Options to mix multiple question types in one assessment. |
| Simple integration with Collab Gradebook. | Integration with Collab Gradebook is straightforward, but does take a couple extra steps. |
| Automated grading on many question types. | Automated grading on many question types. Additionally, AI-assisted answer-grouping allows the instructor to grade similar answers together, greatly speeding up the grading process. |
| No simple way to provide hand-written feedback. | Can easily provide digital handwritten feedback directly on student work. |
| Highly customizable settings. | Not as many customizable settings as Test and Quizzes, but still enough to tailor your assessment to your needs. |
| Extensive Collab support available. | Some UVA/Collab support available. |
| No features to coordinate grading among multiple TAs/instructors. | Built to allow seamless division of grading duties among multiple TAs and instructors. |
| Fixed point values assigned to questions for grading. | Highly customizable grading rubrics help to award partial credit, give specific feedback to students, and allow for retroactive changes to the grading scheme. |
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