This lesson provides overview, direction and guidance on using DnA's Lightning Grader scanning tools! These are general questions and information to get you started on scanning with Lightning Grader. Watch the video to get a quick introduction on our scanning tools.
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General
You will see additional functionality, which includes constructed response question types. Lightning Grader also captures images of student work that can be reviewed online.
Lightning Grader supports camera grading in Chrome and Edge and only supports UVC compliant cameras.
Technology & Cameras
Most companies follow the computer hardware industry USB Video Compliance (UVC) standards. Similar standards exist for printers, monitors, mice, etc. However, some manufacturers do not, and choose to work only with their proprietary software.
All cameras marketed with the description "web cam" adhere to UVC standards and are viewable in Lightning Grader to date. Note that some low budget or older models have low quality (grainy, blurry, low light intolerant) images. Many newer (2013 or later) document cameras are UVC compliant and will work with Lightning Grader.
There are a variety of document camera that are compatible. In particular, Lightning Grader will work with any Elmo cameras that are UVC compliant such as the TT-12i and TT-12iD models. Older non-UVC compliant Elmo cameras will not work with Lightning Grader due to the proprietary software required.
Grade with Camera works with the below browsers:
- Windows: Chrome and Firefox
- Mac: Chrome and Firefox
Most companies follow the computer hardware industry USB Video Compliance (UVC) standards. Similar standards exist for printers, monitors, mice, etc. However, some manufacturers do not and choose to work only with their proprietary software.
We do not currently support mobile scanning via phone or tablet.
Some users may receive the following message: "Module Failed to Load: unable to initialize video"
To resolve, open another tab with Google Meet or another site that will access the camera on the computer. Then, attempt to launch Lightning Graders again.
Another option is to use an Incognito Window in Google Chrome.
Sheet Designer & Printing Answer Sheets
Any sheets printed before your site moved to Lightning Grader will not grade with Lightning Grader. You will have to re-print any assessments you currently have to administer them in Lightning Grader.
No, any scanner/copier that can scan and save to a file will work.
The question limit is set at 999 questions.
We support up to 9 versions.
We support up to 9 answer bubbles.
We support most characters inside of our bubbles. If you are planning to include anything out of the ordinary, please print a test sheet to ensure it works properly.
We have two bubble sizes for assessments, the smaller will fit 109 multiple choice questions (small bubble size). The larger size will fit 55 multiple choice questions. If you are using constructed response questions in an assessment, then the number of questions will vary based on the question types included.
Yes, Lightning Grader sheets can be laminated and used multiple times. Click here for more information on creating a generic Lightning Grader Sheet.
Scanning & Scoring
Grade from Scanner is another way to grade your answer sheets via a file upload. You can use any scanner/copier to scan assessments and save them to a file. The file can then be uploaded and Lightning Grader will grade 100+ pages/minute.
When using Grade from Scanner we accept .PDF, .TIF, .TIFF, .PNG, .JPEG, .JPG, .BMP. We recommend using pdfs as the files are much smaller and faster. Lightning Grader will not work with compressed or locked files. If you have a compressed file, please export it to an uncompressed PDF.
We do not require any special settings to use our Grade from Scanner feature. Just be sure the file type is supported.
The rubric question can appear as bubbles or constructed response text boxes on the sheet as you determine in the Sheet Designer. You can also customize your answer sheet to include lines, grids or blank space. Learn how to customize your answer sheets here.
Rubric questions will not change. They will still be created in the Answer Key process. However, in Sheet Designer, you now have the ability to change the rubric questions to print constructed response text boxes.
Lightning Grader currently offers 7 different question types. Multiple Choice, Number Grid, Rubric, Sentence, Short Answer, Extended Response, and Essay. Depending on the question type will determine the size for the student's response in addition to applying one of four available sizes. Learn more here.
Lightning Grader allows the user to view the students work in the browser. To enable this feature you must be using the most recent version of the Enter/Edit page. Click ‘Try it Out’ at the top of the Enter/Edit page. (If you would like to switch back, you can always return to the previous version.)
Once in the Enter/Edit page, you can review by “Student” or “Question.” The image of the students work will appear on the right hand side of the page, and you can input scores in the table on the left.
No, you must review the answers in the browser and allocate points accordingly.
We have two sizes of assessment landscape templates. The smaller assessment will fit 55 multiple choice questions. The larger size will fit 109 multiple choice questions. Any assessment over 55 questions will produce the larger template. An assessment with constructed response questions will always use the larger template.
Next Steps
Ready to get started? Contact your Implementation Manager to begin exploring assessment scanning with Lightning Grader.