Probabilistic Models for Competence Assessment in Education

Probabilistic models of competence assessment join the benefits of automation with human judgment. We start this paper by replicating two preexisting probabilistic models of peer assessment (<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"...

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Main Authors: Alejandra López de Aberasturi Gómez, Jordi Sabater-Mir, Carles Sierra
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-02-01
Series:Applied Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/5/2368
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author Alejandra López de Aberasturi Gómez
Jordi Sabater-Mir
Carles Sierra
author_facet Alejandra López de Aberasturi Gómez
Jordi Sabater-Mir
Carles Sierra
author_sort Alejandra López de Aberasturi Gómez
collection DOAJ
description Probabilistic models of competence assessment join the benefits of automation with human judgment. We start this paper by replicating two preexisting probabilistic models of peer assessment (<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>P</mi><msub><mi>G</mi><mn>1</mn></msub></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>-bias and PAAS). Despite the use that both make of probability theory, the approach of these models is radically different. While <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>P</mi><msub><mi>G</mi><mn>1</mn></msub></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>-bias is purely Bayesian, PAAS models the evaluation process in a classroom as a multiagent system, where each actor relies on the judgment of others as long as their opinions coincide. To reconcile the benefits of Bayesian inference with the concept of trust posed in PAAS, we propose a third peer evaluation model that considers the correlations between any pair of peers who have evaluated someone in common: <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>P</mi><mi>G</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>-bivariate. The rest of the paper is devoted to a comparison with synthetic data from these three models. We show that <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>P</mi><msub><mi>G</mi><mn>1</mn></msub></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>-bias produces predictions with lower root mean squared error (RMSE) than <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>P</mi><mi>G</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>-bivariate. However, both models display similar behaviors when assessing how to choose the next assignment to be graded by a peer, with an “<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>R</mi><mi>M</mi><mi>S</mi><mi>E</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> decreasing policy” reporting better results than a random policy. Fair comparisons among the three models show that <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>P</mi><msub><mi>G</mi><mn>1</mn></msub></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>-bias makes the lowest error in situations of scarce ground truths. Nevertheless, once nearly <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>20</mn><mo>%</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> of the teacher’s assessments are introduced, PAAS sometimes exceeds the quality of <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>P</mi><msub><mi>G</mi><mn>1</mn></msub></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>-bias’ predictions by following an entropy minimization heuristic. <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>P</mi><mi>G</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>-bivariate, our new proposal to reconcile PAAS’ trust-based approach with <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>P</mi><msub><mi>G</mi><mn>1</mn></msub></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>-bias’ theoretical background, obtains a similar percentage of error values to those of the original models. Future work includes applying the models to real experimental data and exploring new heuristics to determine which teacher’s grade should be obtained next to minimize the overall error.
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spelling doaj.art-33bfee2af29f46f5b7a9d7709632340b2023-11-23T22:39:38ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172022-02-01125236810.3390/app12052368Probabilistic Models for Competence Assessment in EducationAlejandra López de Aberasturi Gómez0Jordi Sabater-Mir1Carles Sierra2Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (IIIA-CSIC), 08193 Barcelona, SpainArtificial Intelligence Research Institute (IIIA-CSIC), 08193 Barcelona, SpainArtificial Intelligence Research Institute (IIIA-CSIC), 08193 Barcelona, SpainProbabilistic models of competence assessment join the benefits of automation with human judgment. We start this paper by replicating two preexisting probabilistic models of peer assessment (<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>P</mi><msub><mi>G</mi><mn>1</mn></msub></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>-bias and PAAS). Despite the use that both make of probability theory, the approach of these models is radically different. While <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>P</mi><msub><mi>G</mi><mn>1</mn></msub></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>-bias is purely Bayesian, PAAS models the evaluation process in a classroom as a multiagent system, where each actor relies on the judgment of others as long as their opinions coincide. To reconcile the benefits of Bayesian inference with the concept of trust posed in PAAS, we propose a third peer evaluation model that considers the correlations between any pair of peers who have evaluated someone in common: <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>P</mi><mi>G</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>-bivariate. The rest of the paper is devoted to a comparison with synthetic data from these three models. We show that <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>P</mi><msub><mi>G</mi><mn>1</mn></msub></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>-bias produces predictions with lower root mean squared error (RMSE) than <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>P</mi><mi>G</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>-bivariate. However, both models display similar behaviors when assessing how to choose the next assignment to be graded by a peer, with an “<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>R</mi><mi>M</mi><mi>S</mi><mi>E</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> decreasing policy” reporting better results than a random policy. Fair comparisons among the three models show that <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>P</mi><msub><mi>G</mi><mn>1</mn></msub></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>-bias makes the lowest error in situations of scarce ground truths. Nevertheless, once nearly <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>20</mn><mo>%</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> of the teacher’s assessments are introduced, PAAS sometimes exceeds the quality of <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>P</mi><msub><mi>G</mi><mn>1</mn></msub></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>-bias’ predictions by following an entropy minimization heuristic. <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>P</mi><mi>G</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>-bivariate, our new proposal to reconcile PAAS’ trust-based approach with <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>P</mi><msub><mi>G</mi><mn>1</mn></msub></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>-bias’ theoretical background, obtains a similar percentage of error values to those of the original models. Future work includes applying the models to real experimental data and exploring new heuristics to determine which teacher’s grade should be obtained next to minimize the overall error.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/5/2368peer assessmentmultiagent systemprobabilistic modelcomparative analysisBayesian network
spellingShingle Alejandra López de Aberasturi Gómez
Jordi Sabater-Mir
Carles Sierra
Probabilistic Models for Competence Assessment in Education
Applied Sciences
peer assessment
multiagent system
probabilistic model
comparative analysis
Bayesian network
title Probabilistic Models for Competence Assessment in Education
title_full Probabilistic Models for Competence Assessment in Education
title_fullStr Probabilistic Models for Competence Assessment in Education
title_full_unstemmed Probabilistic Models for Competence Assessment in Education
title_short Probabilistic Models for Competence Assessment in Education
title_sort probabilistic models for competence assessment in education
topic peer assessment
multiagent system
probabilistic model
comparative analysis
Bayesian network
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/5/2368
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