Paper or Online? A Comparison of Exam Grading Techniques

As computer science enrollments continue to surge, exam grading requires significant instructional resources. Online grading platforms have been developed in recent years and have been adopted at a number of institutions; however, their effectiveness compared with traditional grading on paper is not fully known. This study is the first in CS to compare online and paper grading. Comparing overall time to grade, including all factors, online grading doesn't show a consistent advantage compared with paper grading. We observed that online grading is much faster during the actual grading phase, but some of this benefit is offset by the additional overhead prior to grading (e.g., scanning) for online grading. Examining student and grader preferences based on feedback, both groups show a strong preference for the online format, predominately due to the convenience of the online platform. Graders report being able to grade more accurately online with the ability to modify rubrics, but that grading on paper tends to result in more social interactions among graders.