Contactless Academia – The Case for Automated Essay Scoring (AES) System in COVID 19 Pandemic

Abstract

Background: The 2019 SAR COV- 2 outbreak ushered and made the term ‘contactless’ a new normal for most businesses as a mitigation measure to risky coronavirus exposure. Similarly, there are several exposure scenarios in higher education where contact poses a threat. One of which is the handling and marking of essay scripts from assignments, task, research outputs and more. An invaluable measure worth considering is the inclusion of ‘Automated Essay Scoring’ (AES) system in the mitigation toolkits for higher institutions of learning. Objectives:  We conducted this scoping review to identify the suitability of AES products in higher education and examine the type of methods used to present these products. Methods: This study was undertaken in the form of a scoping review using the Prisma flow sequence of literature search and selection from 6 databases. Findings: Different AES products, literatures and research designs were employed in the investigation of AES products. The outcome of reviewed literatures varied on suitability of AES in scoring essay task in Higher Institution of Learning. Conclusion: There exist substantial case for the use of AES in most literatures amongst few opposing authors; however, in order to achieve contactless interface with human and materials in COVID 19 pandemic, AES should be used with triggers for human raters’ intervention in exceptional cases.