Imagine Learning ClassroomSmart Grader (AI)
Effortless grading, powerful insights, better outcomes.
Smart Grader is a transformative project for Imagine Learning, designed to revolutionize the grading process for K-12 educators. By leveraging AI, it simplifies grading workflows, provides actionable insights into performance trends, and highlights which students need additional support or are excelling.
My Role: Product Design, User Research, AI Consulting | Tools: Figma, Vue, Lottie, AfterEffects, Tailwind, HTML, CSSHelping Customers Get Their Time Back
As a designer, nothing excited me more than tackling a problem that affected teachers daily: the endless hours spent grading papers. Our Smart Grader project grew from a simple goal—help educators spend less time on paperwork and more time doing what they love: supporting their students.
I started by sitting down with real teachers in focus groups, hearing their frustrations firsthand about time-consuming grading processes and the challenges of integrating offline assignments into digital systems. These conversations were eye-opening! I sketched initial prototypes based on their feedback, then watched how teachers interacted with them during user testing sessions. With each iteration, we refined features to create something that truly made their lives easier. Seeing teachers' faces light up when they realized how much time they could save was absolutely the highlight of this project for me!
I need to spend more time with my students and less time on repetitive tasks.
My mission became clear: provide efficient and automated features to help save significant time.
We created Smart Grader because we saw how much time teachers were spending hunched over stacks of papers instead of connecting with their students. Our solution helps educators zip through grading faster, freeing them up to do what they're truly passionate about - supporting their students' learning journeys!
To build something teachers would actually love using, we started by just listening. I organized casual chats with educator groups where they shared their biggest pain points - like the hours spent grading and the hassle of trying to mix paper assignments with digital systems. These conversations were gold! We sketched ideas based on their feedback, let teachers test early versions, and kept refining until we had a solution that felt intuitive and truly saved time.
How We Made Grading a Breeze!
The magic happened when we found ways to use AI to do the heavy lifting! Our tools now scan handwritten student answers and instantly turn them into digital data—no more squinting at messy handwriting or manually entering scores.
We built colorful, easy-to-understand dashboards that show student performance at a glance, making it simple to spot who's struggling and who's ready for more challenge. Throughout the whole process, we kept inviting teachers to test our prototypes and give honest feedback. Their suggestions shaped everything from the button placement to how information is displayed. The result? A grading tool teachers actually enjoy using because it was built around their real needs!
Smart Grader: Behind the Scenes
The really exciting part was working side-by-side with our engineering team to bring AI into the mix. Together, we figured out how to leverage RAG using OpenAI services to do amazing things - like scanning handwritten assignments and automatically turning them into digital data!
Because we have large databases of scoring data, rubrics and standards tags, this enabled us to leverage a series of handshakes between services. RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) help to transform the way we handle student assessments with the following:
1. Capture: A teacher uses a webcam or smartphone to quickly scan handwritten student work, much like depositing a check through a banking app.
2. Retrieval in Action: The system analyzes the handwriting and activates the RAG process by retrieving several types of information:
Assessment rubrics and answer keys from the curriculum database
Common misconception patterns for the specific content
Grade-level standards and learning progressions
Previous work samples from the same student
3. Intelligent Interpretation: Rather than just marking answers right or wrong, AI combines the retrieved information with its understanding to:
Recognize partially correct answers that demonstrate conceptual understanding
Identify specific misconceptions based on the type of error made
Connect current performance to previous work patterns
4. Actionable Teacher Insights: The system generates easy-to-understand reports showing:
Which concepts need reteaching to the whole class
Which small groups would benefit from targeted intervention
Personalized next steps for individual students
Connections between current gaps and upcoming curriculum
The Smart Grader design centered on solving educators’ challenges by creating a faster, smarter grading solution. Focus groups highlighted the need for offline assignment integration and efficient data analysis. Collaborating with engineering and using OpenAI, we developed a platform that transforms scanned work into insights, aggregates trends, and provides intuitive dashboards—empowering teachers to save time and make informed decisions.
The final deliverables included interactive prototype of seamless scanning and translation of paper-and-pencil assignments into digital data for efficient grading. AI-based concepts for real-time dashboards that aggregate data into actionable trends, highlighting student needs and successes. Architected solutions leveraging OpenAI services to provide multiple feature sets, including automated data processing and analysis. A fast, intuitive interface designed to save educators time while enhancing their ability to support student success.
“If this prototype of Smart Grader became a reality, it could be a game-changer for me as both a teacher and a parent. Just imagining the ability to scan and digitize offline assignments and see clear, actionable dashboards makes me feel like I could cut my grading time in half. Right now, I spend four hours every weekend grading, often having to tell my kids I can’t be available because I’m buried in work. A tool like this would not only help me become a more efficient teacher but also give me back precious family time, allowing me to focus on what truly matters both in the classroom and at home.”