Feature extraction and machine learning for evaluation of image- or video-type, media-rich coursework

A coursework management system for automated evaluation of coursework submissions, the system comprising:

• an instructor or curriculum designer interface for selecting or receiving exemplary media content to be used in evaluating the coursework submissions, the exemplary media content including a training set of examples each assigned at least one quality score by the instructor or curriculum designer;
• a training subsystem coupled and programmed to access computer readable encodings of the exemplary media content that together constitute the training set and to extracting from each instance of exemplary media content a first set of computationally defined features;
• the training subsystem further programmed to, for each instance of exemplary media content, supply a classifier with both the instructor or curriculum designer's assigned quality score and values for the computationally defined features extracted therefrom, and to, based on the supplied quality scores and extracted feature values, train the classifier, wherein the training includes updating internal states thereof;
• and
• a coursework evaluation deployment of the trained classifier coupled and programmed to access a computer readable encoding of media content that constitutes, or is derived from, the coursework submissions and to extract therefrom a second set of computationally defined features,
• wherein the media content that constitutes, or is derived from, the coursework submission includes an image or video frame;
• wherein the coursework evaluation deployment is configured to:
• segment the image or video frame to define at least one region of interest;
• extract, for the segmented at least one region of interest, a particular computationally defined feature of the second set;
• and
• apply the trained classifier to the extracted second set of computationally defined features and, based thereon, assigns a particular quality score to the coursework submission.

A coursework management system comprising:

• means for selecting or receiving exemplary media content to be used in evaluating coursework submissions, the exemplary media content including a training set of examples each assigned at least one quality score by an instructor or curriculum designer;
• means for extracting from each instance of exemplary media content a first set of computationally defined features, for supplying a classifier with both the instructor or curriculum designer's assigned quality score and values for the computationally defined features extracted therefrom and, based on the supplied quality scores and extracted feature values, for training the classifier;
• means for accessing a computer readable encoding of media content that constitutes, or is derived from, the coursework submission and extracting therefrom a second set of computationally defined features, wherein the media content that constitutes, or is derived from, the coursework submission includes an image or video signal encoding;
• means for segmenting the image or video frame to define at least one region of interest;
• means for extracting from the coursework submissions a second set of computationally defined features, including extracting, for the segmented at least one region of interest, a particular computationally defined feature of the second set;
• and
• means for applying the trained classifier to the extracted second set of computationally defined features and, based thereon, for assigning a particular quality score to the coursework submission.