Newswise — HAMMOND – An award-winning software design and development company housed on Southeastern Louisiana University's campus is making tests easier – for teachers, not students.
Seeking to make multiple choice grading more efficient, Envoc, working out of the business incubator in the Southeast Louisiana Business Center, has released a new education-based product called BubbleVision.
"BubbleVision was developed as a quick and easy way for educators to grade bubble sheet tests," said Calvin Fabre, owner and CEO of Envoc. "With over 99% accuracy, BubbleVision is changing the face of student assessment and teacher efficiency by reading what other systems cannot. It can differentiate between intended and unintended marks on a test sheet with the ability to learn and adapt to real-world examples. It even becomes more accurate over time."
Fabre said the idea for BubbleVision came from working with a client who had 5,000 bubble sheets rejected by a grading machine. The company was asked to write software that could recognize unintended marks as opposed to hand-grading the rejected 5,000 tests, Fabre explained.
"After some revisions, our software was able to grade the tests to over 99% accuracy," he said. "When a second client had the same issue within a few months, we knew a product was missing from the marketplace. Thus, BubbleVision was born."
With locations in Hammond and Baton Rouge, Envoc employs nine Southeastern computer science graduates and has hired four Southeastern interns who currently are gaining real-world experience working in a software development operation.
"That team of staff and students worked almost exclusively on BubbleVision using their creativity and the software development skills learned from Southeastern," Fabre said. "The team will continue to manage, refine, monitor and host the software while writing integrations when bringing on new clients that need accurate bubble sheet grading."
Fabre said there is a mutually beneficial energy shared by the university and Envoc. Students get excited about being involved in real-world problem solving with actual clients, and Envoc is energized by the youthful energy, commitment and enthusiasm of students gifted and trained with problem solving skills in technology.
"It's a win-win," he said. "I wish I had this opportunity in my impressionable years as a computer science student. It would have made my first few years of study much more enjoyable and meaningful."
For more information about Envoc's BubbleVision contact Fabre at (225) 910-8239 or visit the website bubblevision.org. For information about Southeastern's computer science program, go to southeastern.edu/csit.
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