Automated Long Answer Grading with RiceChem Dataset

We introduce a new area of study in the field of educational Natural Language Processing: Automated Long Answer Grading (ALAG). Distinguishing itself from Automated Short Answer Grading (ASAG) and Automated Essay Grading (AEG), ALAG presents unique challenges due to the complexity and multifaceted nature of fact-based long answers. To study ALAG, we introduce RiceChem, a dataset derived from a college chemistry course, featuring real student responses to long-answer questions with an average word count notably higher than typical ASAG datasets. We propose a novel approach to ALAG by formulating it as a rubric entailment problem, employing natural language inference models to verify whether each criterion, represented by a rubric item, is addressed in the student's response. This formulation enables the effective use of MNLI for transfer learning, significantly improving the performance of models on the RiceChem dataset. We demonstrate the importance of rubric-based formulation in ALAG, showcasing its superiority over traditional score-based approaches in capturing the nuances of student responses. We also investigate the performance of models in cold start scenarios, providing valuable insights into the practical deployment considerations in educational settings. Lastly, we benchmark state-of-the-art open-sourced Large Language Models (LLMs) on RiceChem and compare their results to GPT models, highlighting the increased complexity of ALAG compared to ASAG. Despite leveraging the benefits of a rubric-based approach and transfer learning from MNLI, the lower performance of LLMs on RiceChem underscores the significant difficulty posed by the ALAG task. With this work, we offer a fresh perspective on grading long, fact-based answers and introduce a new dataset to stimulate further research in this important area. Code: \url{https://github.com/luffycodes/Automated-Long-Answer-Grading}.

Pedagogical Alignment of Large Language Models

In this paper, we introduce the novel concept of pedagogically aligned Large Language Models (LLMs) that signifies a transformative shift in the application of LLMs within educational contexts. Rather than providing direct responses to user queries, pedagogically-aligned LLMs function as scaffolding tools, breaking complex problems into manageable subproblems and guiding students towards the final answer through constructive feedback and hints. The objective is to equip learners with problem-solving strategies that deepen their understanding and internalization of the subject matter. Previous research in this field has primarily applied the supervised finetuning approach without framing the objective as an alignment problem, hence not employing reinforcement learning through human feedback (RLHF) methods. This study reinterprets the narrative by viewing the task through the lens of alignment and demonstrates how RLHF methods emerge naturally as a superior alternative for aligning LLM behaviour. Building on this perspective, we propose a novel approach for constructing a reward dataset specifically designed for the pedagogical alignment of LLMs. We apply three state-of-the-art RLHF algorithms and find that they outperform SFT significantly. Our qualitative analyses across model differences and hyperparameter sensitivity further validate the superiority of RLHF over SFT. Also, our study sheds light on the potential of online feedback for enhancing the performance of pedagogically-aligned LLMs, thus providing valuable insights for the advancement of these models in educational settings.