What Are AI-Graded Open-Ended Problems?
Within Create Your Own Problems (CYOP), teachers can create fully customizable open-ended questions that are automatically evaluated by AI.
These problems allow students to:
explain their thinking
justify solutions
show mathematical reasoning
solve problems with multiple valid approaches
Unlike traditional question types, open-ended problems support more flexible response formats and deeper student expression.
How to Create an Open-Ended Problem
Open CYOP (Create Your Own Problems) and select Open-Ended Response as the problem type.
Create your prompt directly in the editor. Open-ended problems can include:
written explanations
reasoning tasks
multi-step problem solving
justification questions
conceptual understanding prompts
Customize AI Grading
When creating an open-ended problem, you can customize how AI evaluates student responses and how many points the problem is worth.
Locate the Grading Prompt field beneath your problem.
Enter instructions describing what you expect in a complete response. For example, "Students should explain why the slopes are equal and identify the lines as parallel."
Set the Max Points to determine the maximum number of points students can earn for the problem.
The grading prompt is optional. If you leave it blank, AI will continue grading responses as usual.
Once your problem is ready, you can assign it just like any other Magma question.
How AI Grading Works
Once students submit their responses:
AI evaluates mathematical correctness and reasoning structure
responses are automatically graded
results appear in the heatmap alongside other assignment data
Teachers can still:
open individual student responses
review student thinking
provide additional feedback
override grades if needed
When a maximum point value is set, AI evaluates each student response based on the grading criteria and awards points up to the specified maximum. Students can also receive partial credit for responses that demonstrate some, but not all, of the expected understanding.
When to Use Open-Ended Problems
This feature is especially useful when:
a standard is not covered by existing Magma content
students need to explain their reasoning
multiple solution methods are acceptable
you want to assess conceptual understanding instead of answer selection
students need opportunities for mathematical communication