AI-based assessment and grading in schools is a part of the new normal.

Once upon a time, there were real classrooms with teachers strictly evaluating you during your pen and paper examinations. This might be a story that our future kids will listen to if the ‘new normal’ is planning to stay here. The Covid-19 pandemic brought rapid digital transformation and AI-driven automation into all industries. According to IDC, the worldwide revenues for the artificial intelligence market are forecast to grow 16.4% in 2021 to USD 327.5 billion.

The growing significance of AI is also visible in the education sector. The pandemic-induced shift to online classes impacted many conventional methods of educational institutions. Remote learning has increased the accessibility and efficiency of the education systems. The shift towards virtual classrooms demands strong support from disruptive technologies. There have been many reports about the role of AI technologies in remote classes and virtual education systems and the ease it brings to different administrative tasks. Let us focus on one of the aspects where AI has already made its mark but has also raised some concerns, that is AI in exam evaluation.

AI in Evaluating Academic Performance

Recent reports revealed that Delhi’s new state school board, DBSE will be employing AI-based continuous assessment and game-based assessment in their schools. A Hindustan Times report states that AI in the assessment process will provide real-time learning feedback to teachers and students will be given situations or involved in activities to evaluate their skills and understanding through games. Will this mean that AI algorithms will decide the performance based on the skills and strength of the students? Absolutely, and this is not the first-ever approach. Many educational institutions and universities have already employed AI for assessment and automated grading systems. Schools in China had already started experimenting with automated AI grading systems a few years back.

AI-based assessments and marking techniques can minimize human biases and enhance the speed of evaluation. Instant feedback to both students and teachers is another advantage of AI in evaluations. Pearson, the multinational publishing and educational organization boasts having many AI-based assessment systems in ELT, which provides unbiased and accurate results.

AI paper grading softwares is gaining attention since they can quickly grade papers and assignments without any human intervention. Machine learning and data analytics are the pillars behind the technology of automated assessment. AI and Machine learning algorithms learn from existing data and try to replicate human evaluation patterns with precision.

AI-driven online marking and assessment, automated grading, AI-assisted proctoring are redefining the education system, while reducing bias and frauds. The Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education in India had announced the use of AI for accuracy in their exam results considering the discrepancies in evaluation that led to the suicides of many students. According to the Economic Times report, the board happened to find various errors in the assessment of OMR sheets due to flawed technology.

Are the Grades Reliable?

Despite the claims that AI-based assessment and grading is accurate, fair, and bias-free, there have been many instances where it went totally wrong. An article in the Harvard Business Review reveals how AI grading systems by the International Baccalaureate Organization produced varying results from the predicted ones and the students went on a protest. And, the AI system apparently, just predicted grades on the data fed to the algorithm rather than actually evaluating papers. Another article on The Verge says how a virtual learning platform’s AI-based assessment method focused on specific keywords to determine marks. Most of us would have heard how an automated AI algorithm caused havoc in the UK amid the pandemic by providing biased and lowered A-level results to the students.

We can find more such discrepancies if we dig more. Do these incidents indicate that AI-based exam evaluation systems are not an ideal approach after all? Maybe we are still lagging behind in addressing the flaws of AI and other disruptive technologies. While feeding loads of data to these systems, it must be taken care that the data do not represent any errors. The virtual and remote learning scenario is here to stay and AI will have many positive impacts on the education system. The future of AI is intertwined with us and hence, AI in the evaluation of exams will benefit many if incorporated in the right way.

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went into crisis-fighting mode to stem a wave of outflows from its H2O Asset Management unit, selling about 300 million euros ($342 million) of its unrated private bonds and marking down the balance to remove incentives for investors to pull even more.

The measures aim to reverse outflows from a group of H2O funds that saw their assets drop by 1.1 billion euros on Thursday as analysts questionedtheir holdings. By moving swiftly and having fund investors take valuation losses now, H2O is seeking to avoid the fate of famed U.K. stock picker Neil Woodford and Swiss asset manager GAM Holding AG, which both froze funds over the past year amid concerns about whether they’d circumvented investment restrictions.

Natixis, which has a network of more than 20 independent asset managers, brought forward a periodic audit of the unit to start June 21. Its shares rose slightly on Monday, halting the two-day slump that followed Morningstar’s move. The bank lost almost 12% last week, falling to the lowest level in nearly three years on Friday.

The fund said it depreciates all portfolio assets in line with market prices and that it started marking down net asset values as of Wednesday. This is why “our funds have overall posted daily negative performances, despite the good showing of our main investment strategies,” H2O said in the letter. An H2O spokesman declined to comment on the letter.

Tthe aggregated value of the non-corporate bond holdings across H2O’s range of funds was 500 million euros as of Monday, a spokeswoman for the money manager said by email.

Defiant Tone

The reduction of Windhorst-linked bonds on Monday comes in stark contrast to the defiant tone struck by Bruno Crastes, chief executive officer of H2O, in an interview published on French media website H24 Finance last week. Crastes, who was asked by Natixis last week to leave the board of Windhorst’s investment company, will be replaced by H2O’s Chief Investment Officer Vincent Chailley, according to a spokesman for the firm.

“The liquidity of the securities is ensured and will allow it to face potential additional withdrawals,” Natixis said in statement on Monday. “The long-term performance drivers of H2O funds, which have been proven over numerous years to the benefit of our clients, remain unaffected as they are not related to this type of investment.”

A spokesman for H2O told Bloomberg on Friday that it rejects Autonomous’s analysis that the notes resemble loans.

Other U.K. fund managers including Woodford have faced questions over whether they’ve circumvented liquidity restrictions by re-packaging assets. The question now is whether the illiquid investments that have caused trouble for H20, GAM and Woodford represent a wider trend in the fund-management industry. Jacob Schmidt, CEO of Schmidt Research Partners, a global investment firm, argues that they are “isolated incidents.”

What Our Analysts Say

“Outflows of more than $680 million so far this quarter were confirmed by Natixis on a call, but this figure will increase hugely by the quarter’s end, we believe.” — Jonathan Tyce, Georgi Gunche, industry analysts

— With assistance by Fabio Benedetti Valentini, Ross Larsen, and Suzy Waite

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