WiseSalmon and Sparkd AI build AI grading system for Leaving Certificate exams

Dublin-based, bespoke AI company Sparkd AI have teamed up with Edtech providers WiseSalmon to build an automatic grading app for leaving certificate students and teachers.

The WiseSalmon algorithm uses machine learning to automatically evaluate students’ answers in practice Leaving Certificate Biology examinations. 

WiseSalmon aims to eventually automate exam grading for every subject. The new technology can provide students with feedback on their work as well as numerical grades, helping students with self-assessment and empowering educators to simplify their workflow. 

Founder of WiseSalmon, Siobhan Ryan, said she is eager to get the revolutionary API out to market and begin collaborating with more schools to pilot the technology. She is currently a participant of the Enterprise Ireland New Frontiers Programme with DCU/DKIT.

“We’re hoping that the education community in Ireland will really get behind this. We want to add value to Teachers’ lives by reducing labour-intensive grading of assessments and increasing the data they are capturing about their students. Students will benefit from enhanced feedback and improved learning outcomes”. 

Dr Luca Marchesotti, CEO of Sparkd AI emphasises the need for widespread piloting:

“The accuracy of our algorithm will be improved the more it is adopted and used. For the technology to work effectively, it requires willing participants. Once WiseSalmon is exposed to a larger dataset, it can grow legs” He explained.

Ryan is calling on educators nationwide to try out WiseSalmon and share it with their students.

“ChatGPT is the talk of the staff room right now. Teachers are concerned about how AI will change the nature of Teaching and Learning.  We want to reassure them that AI is a tool that will make teachers’ jobs easier and help students become more independent. My hope is that we can build a community of educators, empowered by tech, not afraid of it.  Like all students the AI needs to learn and sometimes gets it wrong, however, over time the accuracy will improve but it needs input and that is why we are making this call out to schools”.

Marchesotti said Sparkd plan to continue “building useful solutions like WiseSalmon and grow the use of machine learning in Ireland” 

“The demand for effective AI solutions is growing by the day, in education and beyond. We hope that apps like WiseSalmon open up people’s minds to the power of good AI. AI that effects positive change and simply makes people’s lives easier” 

Test yourself on WiseSalmon here

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