In this lesson you will review how to grade multiple answer sheets using a scanner. This means you can upload a .pdf, .tiff, .png, or .jpeg file(s) and it will scan into the assessment.
What are the benefits? The benefits of using a sheet-fed scanner are no reflection, clear crisp images, improved accuracy, faster grading, better organization, and minimal user interaction. Often times, the file can be uploaded and in a short period of time the sheets will be graded, placing scores in the correct spot without any intervention after file upload. Student scores will always return to the assessment the answer sheet was printed from.
Why Use a Sheet-Fed Scanner? We highly encourage users to “scan” student answer sheets using a sheet-fed Scanner for larger assessments. Using a traditional scanner (e.g. Fujitsu 6130 or Brother MFC machine) you can easily upload hundreds, even thousands of assessment sheets in no time. This can be done by using a scanner to scan student answer sheets onto a computer as PDF, JPEG, JPG, PNG, TIF or TIFF files in a folder on your computer. The files can then be uploaded to process the images into an assessment.
Before You Get Started
- Scan your answer sheets on your chosen device and remember where they are located.
- Once the file has been transferred to your computer you can now store it or immediately upload it for grading.
There are many different scanners out there and we have no way to encompass them all in this instruction, we cannot provide technical support for your sheet-fed scanner. We have outlined best practices for scanning Lightning Grader sheets to produce images that encompass the full testing area as well as basic functionality.
Where to Start
- Go to Assessments.
- Click View Assessments.
- Select the title of the assessment.
- Click Administer.
- Select Grade from Scanner.
- Click the Upload a File area or simply drag and drop the file(s) for grading.
- Navigate to the folder on your computer that contains your student's answer sheet images. Make sure you are accessing the right images for your particular assessment! Select or highlight single or multiple files you would like to upload. Click OK.
- The file will appear in your file upload list.
- Once the file is in the table, the status will go from ‘Pending’ to ‘Grading’ to either ‘Finished’, 'Not Graded’, or ‘Needs Reviewed’.
- If the Status is marked as Sheets Need Review, select the Action menu.
- Choose Review All Sheets under Actions, to either fix an issue or review the constructed response questions.
- Once all sheets with issues have been reviewed, upon return to the file upload page the status will turn green to “Finished”.
If you get the status of Not Graded, this could be because of an intermittent internet connection or the file contains issues that we cannot identify. Please re-upload the file or rescan the sheets and upload a new file to the grader.
Reviewing answer sheets is to submit student responses and check everything is being submitted as expected.
This option will help to narrow the sheets to review for students that need it.
- Based on the pre-slugged answer sheet, the Student ID will be verified with that in your account.
- As you select the answers, the answer sheet will highlight where the answer is for quick and easy view
- Any Constructed Response or Teacher Graded items, will need to be evaluated and graded within Enter/Edit.
- When you have completed reviewing the student's responses, mark sure to Mark As Reviewed.
- Change to another student by selecting a Student's Name and ID.
- By default, any changes are Autosaved but if disabled, the Save button is available when changes have been made to the student's responses.
Learn how to troubleshoot the above by visiting Sheet Fed Scanning in Scanning Troubleshooting for Teachers.
Next Step
Ready to review your Teacher Graded items and see student work? Visit Manually Enter/Edit Student Responses and Constructed Response Grades to get started.