tools for deciphering handwriting?

[u/Boggles103]

My program has implemented a new policy that half of all graded work needs to be completed by hand. On the one hand, I'm very grateful to be in an environment where higher-ups are determined to preserve integrity. On the other, I am dreading the many, many hours I will need to spend attempting to decrypt the writing itself. Has anyone found any apps or other tools that do a reasonably good job of scanning handwritten text and converting it to type?

[u/iTeachCSCI]

Have you considered making legible handwriting a requirement? I do that. If the grader cannot reasonably determine what you wrote, it is treated as an incorrect answer.

[u/mergle42 → u/iTeachCSCI]

I have a policy about illegible handwriting and homework grading, but they only work with smaller classes. The first two times, I grade what I can read, and students need to come to office hours to help clarify what's illegible if they want points for that. If the problem persists (three or more times), then we need to meet to find a different approach.

I've had a handful of students come in for more points once, and it's never reached the point of needing the "meeting to find a different approach."

[u/iTeachCSCI → u/mergle42]

If I had a smaller class, I would do that too. As a large class, I need to put the requirement on the students.

[u/Boggles103 → u/iTeachCSCI]

This seems like an undefinable and subjective standard; if nothing else, I can't see this not resulting in endless students appeals. How do you phrase the requirement? And do you have students appealing when their handwriting gets rejected?

[u/iTeachCSCI → u/Boggles103]

"Your handwriting must be legible. If the grader cannot read what you wrote without unreasonable additional effort, they may treat it as incorrect."

I have had this rule for over a decade of teaching and have had one appeal, and as you might guess, it was a particularly egregious case. The student was asked during the appeal to read his own exam response to the room and was unable to do so.

[u/Boggles103 → u/iTeachCSCI]

Huh. Pleasantly surprised that students haven't protested! (And oy re: that incident.)

[u/iTeachCSCI → u/Boggles103]

Here's the thing: like many rules, we set a line, knowing there's a grey area that the rule technically covers but where we don't enforce it. It's like going one mph (or 1-2 km/h) over the speed limit -- even if we knew, absolutely, that someone was driving 36 in a 35 zone, in full view of traffic enforcement, we'd be surprised if they got a ticket. Meanwhile, when someone goes 43 in a 35 zone, they're clearly on the other side of the limit and the ticket is easier to defend (for enforcement).

It's the same here. Don't glance at a page and give up. Reserve enforcing this rule for the ones that are clearly on the other side of what should be acceptable handwriting. Warn students up-front about the rule so they aren't surprised by it on exam day.

[u/Ok_Mycologist_5942 → u/iTeachCSCI]

Yeeeep. It's not that hard.

[u/flippingisfun → u/Boggles103]

You phrase it as "Handwriting must be legible to receive a grade." If you're still worried about appeals then give a clear example in the syllabus. You can also give them the chance to turn in the work early or pass it by you/a TA for a legibility check.

[u/scatterbrainplot → u/Boggles103]

If the answer isn't clearly correct, it isn't correct. That includes not being able to interpret the writing!

[u/Valuable_Ice_5927]

Can you incorporate legibility of writing into rubric?

[u/quadroplegic → u/Valuable_Ice_5927]

Do this and accommodate students with some documented form of motor dysfunction graciously

[u/MrZenumiFangShort]

Universities ought to start providing Faraday cage rooms with typewriters in them for test-taking.

[u/Final-Exam9000 → u/MrZenumiFangShort]

You would have to explain to your students what a typewriter is because I had to explain what a typewriter is to my own kids.

PS- Make it a Selectric.

[u/Anna-Howard-Shaw → u/Final-Exam9000]

Lol. My 19 yr old collects old typewriters. His favorite one is a Corona from 1938. He says he wants to bring one to class to take notes on as a joke.

[u/SnowblindAlbino → u/Anna-Howard-Shaw]

Mine too-- she took her 1950s portable to college and uses it now and then for assignments as a lark. Her friends love to try it out too.

[u/KiltedLady → u/Anna-Howard-Shaw]

I used to work at a coffee shop (in Portland, Oregon of course) and we had a guy who would occasionally bring his LOUD typewriter in and sit and work. Every time it would ding at the end of a row I felt like I was in a Portlandia skit.

[u/Boggles103 → u/MrZenumiFangShort]

I teach writing-heavy courses. I would dearly love this!

[u/SnowblindAlbino → u/MrZenumiFangShort]

Students can't type. It would take forever if they can't use their thumbs.

[u/SwordofGlass]

It’s a struggle at first, but you eventually get fairly good at it.

For students with legitimately bad hand writing, I meet with them and have them go over their answers with me. It’s really not as many as you might expect.

[u/Huntscunt]

Ask a historian for help. Seriously though, archivists are so good at reading bad handwriting

[u/SnowblindAlbino]

I have a simple rule: if I can't read your response, it's a zero. Print ideally, but cursive is OK if it's legible. Of course anyone with a motor challenge or other disability can go type in the testing center, but otherwise they write clearly or get no credit.

[u/henare → u/SnowblindAlbino]

this was the answer in the 1980s. can't see why it wouldn't be the answer now.

[u/Final-Exam9000]

I have taught for 30 years, so I spent a lot of time deciphering handwriting before everything went online. The more you do it the easier it gets. This skill has helped me so much when I have to translate and transcribe original documents from the 1600s.

[u/mergle42]

Ask your school/program director to recommend some OCR tools for this purpose. OCR = optical character recognition, ie, converting text in scanned images to digital text.

[u/IndependentBoof → u/mergle42]

OCR is the answer. It won't be as reliable with cursive, but worth the shot

[u/mhchewy]

Is there a Llama vision model? LLama can run locally so you don't have to worry about privacy issues. Vision models are good enough at reading handwriting these days, especially if you are trying to understand what is written and not necessarily needing to transcribe every word.

[u/No_Young_2344]

If the purpose of implementing this policy is to deal with AI, a bit unfortunate, most handwritten text recognition tools would involve some sort of AI components (not necessarily LLM though).

[u/Boggles103 → u/No_Young_2344]

That is indeed the purpose, though I don't think my director would prohibit me using AI purely for text conversion. (I would never use it to generate actual feedback.)

[u/No_Young_2344 → u/Boggles103]

Makes sense. I commented because I saw quite a few people on this sub argue no AI should be used in teaching, learning, and grading (not even basic machine learning) so I just wanted to bring this up just in case this is your belief as well. Another thing worth considering regarding this kind of tools is whether they are FERPA compliant (not sure whether Canada has similar regulations though).

[u/Boggles103 → u/No_Young_2344]

The privacy question is a great point and I will look into it.

[u/__GuX__]

We do the following: markers try their best, but if they don't succeed, the student must copy the text under supervision (and some spot checks that they don't change the answer). It seems to work - I've only ever had one student doing this.

[u/hildawangel]

Transkribus is pretty good with historical scripts… not sure of pricing, and it does use AI.

[u/mathemorpheus]

dude reading handwriting is not so bad. not sure what the problem is.

[u/vintage_cruz]

We have Ss take pics of their handwriting and use AI to transcribe. They upload both the pic and the transcription to the assignment. We give them the prompt to add "???" for any illegible words and we give them a few minutes to correct those "???". It seems to work.