Hi everyone,
For this assignment, I’ve imagined a writing app that uses AI to give students real-time feedback as they work. Instead of waiting for teacher comments, students can receive guided prompts as they type, helping them strengthen flow, clarity, grammar, tone, detail, and the use of specific examples. The app does not correct their writing for them; instead, it prompts them to revisit their ideas, make revisions, and engage in meaningful reflection about how to improve their work. It is formatted for mobile devices and is intended to ease teacher workload, improve efficiency, and support more personalized learning for students.
Please find the link below:
https://sites.google.com/view/writecoach/home
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What stood out most was your focus on feedback that is actionable. Students often get comments like “improve organization,” but they don’t know what that means or how to fix it. I like that WriteCoach aims to highlight the exact moment where flow breaks or structure weakens, so learners can revise with a clearer sense of purpose. The idea of real time feedback on clarity and argument development seems like it could genuinely help students avoid the frustration of discovering issues only after a full draft is finished. Overall, this feels like a thoughtful and well supported concept that speaks directly to a real gap in classrooms.
If this was available now I would already be using it for my ELL students.
The feedback it takes to mark written assignments, especially in the humanities, is never ending. Moreover, when you add the additional feedback of grammatical aspects, the time spent is infinite, causing many teachers to either minimize the amount of feedback or minimize the amount of assignments. A technology like this would be perfect because it coaches students on what to do without giving them the answer. It manages the job of giving students feedback as they work, rather than after they’ve handed it in.
I think one aspect I would want to see added to this would the teacher getting to see the work done by the student before and after the feedback, kind of like a replay of their writing progress. I think this information could show progress overtime but also an idea on the students writing process. Lastly, I think being able to explain to ELL student what mistakes they made and why, especially if it can explain in their own language, would be such a great tool. Explaining these mistakes take a lot of time and mastery of communicating English grammar that many teachers may not feel comfortable explaining. Taking this expectation off the teacher can give them more opportunity to replace time marking with check-ins and developing learning plans and content.
Your WriteCoach app idea is practical and student-centered, offering a fresh way to support writing development in real time. I like that the app focuses on guiding students to improve their own work rather than just correcting mistakes for them. This approach encourages deeper reflection and helps build stronger writing skills over time. The mobile-friendly design is smart since students often work on-the-go or in various settings. Your emphasis on easing teacher workload while personalizing learning shows a clear understanding of classroom needs. I wonder how the app might adapt its prompts to different writing styles or genres to keep feedback relevant. Overall, this feels like a helpful tool that could make writing practice more engaging and efficient for both students and teachers.
Wonderful mmeshi. Truly a project after my own heart. I struggled with writing. Dyslexia and a learning disability hamstrung my development to read and write with my peers growing up. I would FREQUENTLY look online for a tool that you are describing – and become an early adopter of proof-reading-bots.
From experience I can say that you covered the benefits and challenges well. It would be imperative for such a piece of technology to facilitate the student completing the proof-reading rather than providing answers. As I have said in this course many times, I don’t believe a student should be using tech as an efficiency tool until they have mastered the skill without the tech.
I really enjoyed learning about WriteCoach. The idea of giving students real-time guidance while they write feels extremely practical, especially since many students struggle to apply feedback that arrives days later. What I liked most is that the app doesn’t “fix” the writing for them—it pushes them to rethink their ideas, strengthen clarity, and build their own editing habits. That kind of support can make a huge difference in confidence and motivation.
I can also imagine this working well across subjects—science labs, social studies essays, even creative writing—because the app helps with the thinking behind the writing, not just spelling or grammar. For students who’ve struggled in the past, this feels like a set of “training wheels” that still lets them steer on their own.
I really like the idea of an app that helps students notice issues in their writing instead of just giving them fixes. It actually gets them thinking and figuring things out on their own, which feels way more meaningful. The point about students disengaging from feedback or not applying it meaningfully is so true. Even when they do apply the feedback, it often means the teacher has to reread the work, give more comments, and go through another cycle, which easily creates more delay. An app like this could really cut down that lag time by supporting students in the moment, so they’re not waiting days or weeks to revise something that could be addressed right away.
Thanks for sharing about WriteCoach! I really like the idea of having an AI app that gives students real-time feedback while they’re writing. It’s true that waiting for teachers to get back to students with feedback often slows down learning—and sometimes the feedback can be too general or come way too late to be super helpful. WriteCoach sounds like it could change that by making the whole writing process way more visible and interactive.
I also love that it doesn’t just catch spelling or grammar mistakes but helps with flow, clarity, and organization—those tricky parts that students often struggle with the most. And breaking things down into manageable suggestions feels super supportive, especially for younger students or those who need more scaffolding.
But a few questions came to mind about potential concerns:
1. Since WriteCoach gives real-time, detailed feedback, how do we protect students’ privacy while still offering meaningful insights? Could sensitive or personal writing accidentally be exposed or stored?
2. WriteCoach highlights exactly where ideas slow down or tone slips—how can we make sure students don’t just follow AI suggestions blindly but keep building their own critical thinking and editing skills?
This is a great app idea, it’s one that could do so much universal good beyond just the classroom. Real-time immediate feedback is so challenging to achieve when working with 20+ students, an app like this would be so beneficial for students and teachers. Your level of detail and thought surrounding the functioning of the app was engaging and realistic. I could easily envision what you were forecasting and found myself thinking about how useful such a technology would be. I like the video you included, to give the user a chance to see the app in action.
Hey mmeshi,
Great app idea! I can see the theory behind it; more personalized and instantaneous feedback, saving the teacher’s time… There’s definitely a use case for it, and I think you’ve covered a lot of the benefits, classroom applications and challenges.
I might push back a bit on the claim that “algorithmic assessment of writing reduces bias and is likely more consistently accurate than the judgements of human experts.” I read through a bit of the article you cited to back that up and couldn’t find that claim there. I see how AI could possibly reduce human-to-human bias (eg: favourite student bias), but I think exclusive use of AI could introduce other biases that are internal to the AI agents themselves.
Finally, from a pure curiosity standpoint, do you think there is something fundamentally different about how students internalize feedback from an AI agent vs from another human being? Do you think anything is lost in the process of learning to write from an intelligence with no lived experience? Is there something gained instead, perhaps? Some more philosophical questions, sure, but I think they’re important to consider at this point in time.
Anyway, a great application of current AI technologies regardless! Thanks for sharing.
Hi Mmeshi,
I really like your app idea and how you brought up neuroscience. Considering my own project I think we have shared excitement about the enhanced learning potential AI driven real-time feedback presents.
As someone who struggled with writing throughout my university time, it would have been much easier to pick up the skill with training wheels. What your app offers feels exactly like that: a steady guide that helps you balance, notice what’s wobbling, and build confidence before you’re expected to ride on your own. Instead of handing students the answers, it gives just enough support to keep them moving forward until the skill becomes natural.
Great stuff 🙂
Hi Mmeshi, I think this tool could be effective while students are writing their lab reports in science! Especially because I am marking for science content instead of English language acquisition. I am constantly in awe of how English teachers can understand what students are writing because of the lack of clarity in their work.
Do you think that, as a result of using WriteCoach, there will have to be a change in the curriculum? In Alberta, students have to use Vretta to type out their written composition while writing their diploma. One of the new features they have just introduced is the ability to spell-check their work. As a result, their outcome in English for spelling is no longer valid, as Vretta can do it for them. While I realize in your challenges section you did mention that it can be helpful to turn it off, if students can have access to AI that can check their writing anyway, would it be necessary to explicitly teach it? I think this is the same argument with students when they argue whether it is necessary to learn to use mental math in school if they have consistent use of a calculator (i.e., phone) in their pockets.
Hi Mmeshi, I really like the forecast that you have created, and I can foresee this AI tool being incorporated in the future. I agree even from neuroscience perspective, immediate feedback is very helpful. For example, research by Foerde & Shohamy (2011) demonstrates that immediate feedback activates the striatum, a crucial brain region for processing rewards and motivation. This activation aids in adjusting students’ behavior based on the feedback received.
One question I had in mind is that, when AI-generated feedback is enabled, students will likely need to opt in and allow the tool to read their draft. With companies like ChatGPT, this often means the submitted text may be used for model training, which could make some students or parents uncomfortable. I wonder whether, in the future of AI-based educational technology, companies will make it easier for students to opt out of data being used for training (similar to opting out of cookies), or whether opting out will remain difficult or intentionally obscure.
reference:
Foerde, K., & Shohamy, D. (2011). Feedback Timing Modulates Brain Systems for Learning in Humans. Journal of Neuroscience, 31(37), 13157–13167. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2701-11.2011