Scannable bubble sheets are a widely used way to capture data from tests, surveys, and other types of multiple-choice forms. So how do you convert the data on these bubble sheets from paper to data? You use a bubble sheet scanner tool! There are various types of bubble sheet scanner tools on the market, and here are some of the most common tools.
Historically, the only way to scan bubble sheets was with a dedicated hardware scanner known as an OMR reader. These systems were expensive and required the purchase of special forms along with the scanner. Gravic was the first company to use low-cost image scanners and plain-paper forms for processing bubble sheets when we released Remark Office OMR in 1991. As a result, the Remark products have a large installed base and have been used to successfully process billions of forms. Remark offers course evaluation software, survey processing software, ballot tabulation software and more. The products support best-in-class OMR scanners and image scanners.
Bubble sheet scanner tools can be broken into three basic types. The first is the desktop software variety. Products such as Remark Office OMR by Gravic, or InspiroScan by Inspironix fall into this category. These products are Windows-based software, which is installed on one or more PCs. They tend to be the most expensive of the options. They also tend to be the most flexible as they can typically be used for grading bubble sheet tests, and for processing surveys, ballots, and other types of bubble sheets.
These days there are many free or very low-cost apps that run on phones, use a phone camera to take pictures of bubble sheets, and then automatically grade them. Apps such as WordMint by WordMint, Inc., or any of a large variety of “free” apps available on the Apple or Google stores can be downloaded and used to grade bubble sheets. Apps with names like Groovy Grader, SwiftGrade, QuickGrader, and many others are available on these stores. These apps require a teacher to use the phone camera to take pictures of each test to grade them. Often the “free” version is limited in scope and in-app purchases allow you to upgrade to more full-featured versions. These apps are typically used by individual teachers, using their personal device, and trying to automate grading without any budget. They are not usually adopted at a school level.
The third, and currently most popular type of bubble sheet scanner tool is delivered as a software as a service (“SaaS”) model. These tools are hosted by the vendor, often using commercial hosting services such as Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure for security and scalability. They provide full-featured grading and analysis of tests using images from any scanner and in some cases from phone cameras and other devices. Products like Remark Test Grading by Gravic, and ZipGrade by ZipGrade LLC fall into this category. They provide much more flexibility in the design and printing of bubble sheets, and work with images from any scanner, copier, or device able to create PDF or TIFF image files. The analysis is more complete and there are advanced features for schools to administer the application for their teachers. These apps are designed more as school solutions rather than individual teacher tools.
Each of the above types of bubble sheet scanner tools has some pros and cons. The free apps have the most cons of the three, with the pro being that they are free or very low cost for individual teachers to use. Student data is protected by law and is expected to be always secured. This is where the free apps tend to have issues. Often these apps are downloaded by individual teachers who do not have permission and oversight of school IT personnel. Images of student tests are captured on the phone and sent to servers that may be located anywhere. Most teachers may not realize they may be sending test forms across country boundaries, thus breaking security laws. In addition, the use of a phone camera is much slower and less accurate than scanning forms with a scanner or copier. These free phone apps are great conveniences for individual teachers but should be used with caution.
The Windows products are typically much more complicated to use than the others. As they are installed applications, they require more IT oversight to install and maintain. Because they are licensed per PC they are installed on, they are not great for schools where multiple people need to use the tool. Although they are more powerful in the variety of tasks they can handle, the additional power also tends to make them more complex to use, except for those well versed in using technical Windows software.
The SaaS model is the easiest and most effective of the three for handling the testing needs of a school or university. They typically require an IT person at the school to serve as the Administrator of the system to add or manage the school’s users of the system. Users access the portal using any web browser and have their own login, providing them with their own workspace where their tests are visible only to them. Maintenance in a SaaS model is handled by the vendor, eliminating this task from school IT personnel.
For schools, universities, training organizations, and others with a group of instructors or teachers who need to process tests, Remark Test Grading is the most powerful and easy tool available on the market. Hosted with Amazon Web Services, with data centers in the US, Canada, and the EU, customers can choose where their data is stored securely. Remark Test Grading allows users the most flexibility in designing bubble sheets, having a full-form designer, or users can choose a standard answer sheet for their tests. Many schools use their existing copier fleet to both print bubble sheets, and to scan them back to Remark Test Grading where they are automatically graded. The application provides an array of detailed reports to give instructors an in-depth look at the student, class, item, and overall test analysis so they can quickly pinpoint areas of strength and weakness in student knowledge The application is easy to use and is continuously developed based upon user feedback and requests. Remark Test Grading is used by many large and small universities, public, private, and parochial schools as well as training organizations.
There are many different products and types of bubble sheet scanner tools available to eliminate the tedium of hand-grading tests. Find a solution that meets your requirements for data security, ease of use, and to fit your budget.
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