Single-Agent vs. Multi-Agent LLM Strategies for Automated Student Reflection Assessment

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Li, Gen, Chen, Li, Tang, Cheng, Švábenský, Valdemar, Deguchi, Daisuke, Yamashita, Takayoshi, Shimada, Atsushi
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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_version_ 1866911011316957184
author Li, Gen
Chen, Li
Tang, Cheng
Švábenský, Valdemar
Deguchi, Daisuke
Yamashita, Takayoshi
Shimada, Atsushi
author_facet Li, Gen
Chen, Li
Tang, Cheng
Švábenský, Valdemar
Deguchi, Daisuke
Yamashita, Takayoshi
Shimada, Atsushi
contents We explore the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) for automated assessment of open-text student reflections and prediction of academic performance. Traditional methods for evaluating reflections are time-consuming and may not scale effectively in educational settings. In this work, we employ LLMs to transform student reflections into quantitative scores using two assessment strategies (single-agent and multi-agent) and two prompting techniques (zero-shot and few-shot). Our experiments, conducted on a dataset of 5,278 reflections from 377 students over three academic terms, demonstrate that the single-agent with few-shot strategy achieves the highest match rate with human evaluations. Furthermore, models utilizing LLM-assessed reflection scores outperform baselines in both at-risk student identification and grade prediction tasks. These findings suggest that LLMs can effectively automate reflection assessment, reduce educators' workload, and enable timely support for students who may need additional assistance. Our work emphasizes the potential of integrating advanced generative AI technologies into educational practices to enhance student engagement and academic success.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_05716
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Single-Agent vs. Multi-Agent LLM Strategies for Automated Student Reflection Assessment
Li, Gen
Chen, Li
Tang, Cheng
Švábenský, Valdemar
Deguchi, Daisuke
Yamashita, Takayoshi
Shimada, Atsushi
Machine Learning
Computers and Society
I.2; I.6; K.3
We explore the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) for automated assessment of open-text student reflections and prediction of academic performance. Traditional methods for evaluating reflections are time-consuming and may not scale effectively in educational settings. In this work, we employ LLMs to transform student reflections into quantitative scores using two assessment strategies (single-agent and multi-agent) and two prompting techniques (zero-shot and few-shot). Our experiments, conducted on a dataset of 5,278 reflections from 377 students over three academic terms, demonstrate that the single-agent with few-shot strategy achieves the highest match rate with human evaluations. Furthermore, models utilizing LLM-assessed reflection scores outperform baselines in both at-risk student identification and grade prediction tasks. These findings suggest that LLMs can effectively automate reflection assessment, reduce educators' workload, and enable timely support for students who may need additional assistance. Our work emphasizes the potential of integrating advanced generative AI technologies into educational practices to enhance student engagement and academic success.
title Single-Agent vs. Multi-Agent LLM Strategies for Automated Student Reflection Assessment
topic Machine Learning
Computers and Society
I.2; I.6; K.3
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.05716