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.

Mitigation of COVID-19 in Workplaces: When Push Comes to Shove in Offshore Oil Operation

“…Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 or C-19) outbreak was initially reported to have occurred in Wuhan, China on the 31 st of December 2019 [1,2] as a novel type of respiratory tract infection. This was corroborated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a coronavirus-related pneumonia on the 9 th of January 2020 and later confirmed as a pandemic on the 11 th of March 2020 [3,4].…”

COVID-19 Desertion – Investigating Mold Potentials before Office Re-Entry

“…The global outbreak and subsequent spread of Coronavirus Disease (COVID- 19) from Wuhan, China to every continent led to a global pandemic with massive impact on different spheres of life and global economy including occupational settings [1,2]. COVID-19 is caused by a highly infective and novel species of coronavirus called Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) [1,2].…”

“…The global outbreak and subsequent spread of Coronavirus Disease (COVID- 19) from Wuhan, China to every continent led to a global pandemic with massive impact on different spheres of life and global economy including occupational settings [1,2]. COVID-19 is caused by a highly infective and novel species of coronavirus called Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) [1,2]. It inflicted severe impacts on organisations and workers including but not limited to exacerbation of ailments, deaths, loss of employment, mental health issues, loneliness, limitation of workers' freedom, fear of uncertainty, insolvency of organisations and businesses, and more.…”