ACCURATE TEST GRADING SOLUTION, SURVEY FORM DATA COLLECTION AND DATA CAPTURING SYSTEM AND CENSUS TABULATION SOLUTIONS
Traditional small scale tests assessment, exams grading , surveys and census questionnaires are scored manually. It's too expensive to generate and print special “forms” that can be recognized by commercial optical scanners. When large scale surveys and tests are undertaken, forms are designed to fit special Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) requiring specific columns across a special form paper. The paper tests or surveys must use a commercial printer at high expense. The OMR scanners are specialized and can only tally the forms with a custom program that was used to generate the questionaire form.
The picture below is a screen shot of a digital image of a ballot captured showing how the system is tallying the selections. Similar technology can be used for scoring tests. The captured digital images of tests allow easier, distributed grading of essay type questions. It also allows easier peer review of prviously scored exams.
When doing surveys, digital images may be posted for public review enhancing public confidence.
Below is a typical commercial-off-the-shelf cost effective document scanner for use for even the largest public tests assessment and grading, surveys and polls tabulation solutions. A properly configured system with 10 of these units could tabulate over 1,000,000 double-sided test or survey forms in less than 24 hours.
TYPICAL COTS SCANNER
- Daily Duty Cycle: 10,000 pages
- Grayscale: Yes
- Feed Capacity: 500 Sheets
- Document Size - Width: 2.2in - 12in
- Document Size - Length: 2.8in - 17in
- Thickness - auto feeding: 14 - 32 lb
- Scanning Resolution 200: Yes
- Scan Speed Duplex 200 dpi: 150 ipm
- Long Document Scanning: 39.4in
- Recommended Connection: SCSI
- Scanner Drivers: ISIS, TWAIN
AUTOMATIC ACCURATE DATA CAPTURING AND TABULATION OF ANSWERS FOR TEST GRADING & SURVEY DATA CAPTURING WITH STANDARDIZED OR CUSTOMIZED TEST FORM, SURVEY DATA COLLECTION FORM AND CENSUS QUESTIONNAIRES
(US 6,892,944; 7,077,313; 7,614,553 and other AVANTE pending patents incorporating imaging, scaling and pixel counting optical scan solutions)
AVANTE couples the accurate data capturing technology from test and survey forms and questionaires for use as accurate test grading solution and assessment tabulation system. These data collection and data capturing software solution incorporates a flexible form generation software and solution to provides the most advanced e-TEST and e-SURVEY systems since the first use of OMR technologies. The patented scaling of paper shrinkage or expansion and the quantitative pixel counting enable direct and automatic accurate data capturing of addresses, names and other demographic data that may otherwise required keying in manually. The total automatic data capturing and deciphering dramatic makes survey and census forms tabulation dramatically reduces costs in large scale survey applications such as national census.
The 2006 SAT test scoring and grading errors by the tabulation company engaged by the College Board highlights the need for upgrading the technology. The test assessment and grading errors were attributed to the moisture induced paper expansion and the inability to resolve lightly marked “bubble marks”.
The inability to resolve lightly marked “bubble marks” and errors due to paper expansion or shrinkage is a chronic industry problem. Combined with paper alignment errors, approximately 1.5% of the SAT tests were tallied incorrectly. The largest scoring and grading error rate was 450 points or 19% on a test of 2400 points or 25% for a 1600 point test.
Mostly unknown to the public, similar grading and assessment error rates appear in tallies of votes in US elections when paper ballots are used. The Federal Voting System Standards of 2002 specifically mandates voting systems to have less than 1 error in 1.5 million marks when the paper ballot is marked correctly (i.e. properly filled “bubble marks”). Systems using discrete sensor/OMR technology have problem meeting this requirement.
AVANTE International Technology's test and survey scoring solution spins off from its EAC certified system for tallying voting ballots using pixel count and document imaging technology. AVANTE Optical VOTE-TRAKKER™ was the first to pass and exceed federal testing with 0 errors in 1,500,000 marks. The same technology can be used for scoring tests, tabulating surveys and questionnaires.
The discrete Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sensor technology relies on completed documents passing through the scanner “exactly” straight. The width marking positions must line up “correctly” and timing must be exact for reading the length of the paper. With the use of advanced document imaging technology, AVANTE uses fiducial markings to scale for paper orientation and expansion/shrinkage variations. The quantitative use of counting pixels in each “bubble mark” also provides automatic self-checking for possible light markings or other smearings or errors. The following table is a summary of differences between traditional discrete sensor OMRs and imaging with quantitative pixel counting technologies.
| AUTOMATIC DATA CAPTURING AND TABULATION SOLUTION USING AVANTE's PATENTED PIXEL-COUNTING AND FORM SCALING DOCUMENT IMAGING SYSTEM | ||
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REQUIREMENTS |
TECHNOLOGIES AND/OR PROCESSES |
COMMENTS |
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Fast and automatic data capturing from customized surveys and questionnaires |
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Multiple pages for any single survey or questionnaires (no limits to the number of questions per survey set) |
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May be used to accurately capture data from customized surveys and forms or questionnaires |
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Automatic compilation to provide results and statistics based on specific questions, demographics and other parameters |
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Ideal for small and large institutions |
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AVANTE further couples the accurate data capturing and tabulation system with a flexible form generation software and solution that enables direct and automatic data capturing of addresses, names and other demographic data that may otherwise required keying in manually. The total automatic data capturing and deciphering dramatic makes survey and census forms tabulation dramatically reduces costs in large scale applications such as national census.
