Difficulties of marking decision tree diagrams

Decision tree (DT) diagrams are one of the most commonly used data mining methods [1] [2]. This paper aims to identify and illustrate the difficulties of marking tree diagrams especially decision trees as they are a widely used and practical method for inductive inference and many students learn from them [3]. One of the difficulties of marking decision trees is the subjectivity of the marking process. The subjective nature of decision tree assessment leads to variation in marks given by different educator assessors, which is seen by the student as a great source of unfairness. The paper presents a preliminary effort to investigate requirements of marking decision trees. The results suggest the adoption of an automated assessment approach for decision trees.