What Happens When Students Have Access to Instant AI Feedback?

I teach English to 9th graders, which means I frequently ask them to write things. Right now we are working on a narrative unit and I often ask them to write stories related to our readings. 

Recently, we have watched the famous TED talk about the danger of a single story, and read a great essay on the same topic, and then I asked students to write about a time when they had a single story about a person or place, or a time when someone else had a single story about them. 

Nothing revolutionary here, just a pretty typical classroom writing exercise, except that I also gave them access to immediate AI feedback through Magic School. 

What happened: 

Some students started writing, some went to the idea generator in the Magic Student room I gave them, and then started writing. So, as usual, the first ten minutes of writing time was pretty productive and on task. 

Initial AI Feeedback

Then we hit the usual wall. You know the wall. The moment when one student declares, "I'm done," in that too loud way that starts a trend of others being done even though none of them are really done, haven't really written about their story in detail, and have left a lot out. Every classroom teacher knows that a student who is done (or thinks they are done) early, creates challenges for classroom management. Every student who is "done" early probably needs to do much more with their writing.

Usually, in these moments, I come over, skim what they wrote, and ask a question like, "Can you write more about how you felt in this moment of the story?" or "Write more about what these people were saying to each other here." It's generic advice that generally sends the student back into their text for another pass. Today, I sometimes did that, but more often I said, "Have you tried getting AI feedback yet?" This worked especially well if I was busy with a student who needed more support. For context I have 36 students in this 9th grade class.   

And then something amazing happened; most students started to use the AI feedback tool. When they felt done, or stuck, or not sure what to write next, they would paste their writing into the AI and it would suggest some things to try, often very similar to what I would have suggested. The students took this advice and went back into their drafts. They were revising without my direct intervention. What might have become a patchwork of students still trying to write while other students were "done" became a space where everyone spent the whole period working on improving their writing. 

The last round of advice

It's early. The novelty of AI feedback may wear off, but the general desire for a higher grade will likely endure. Most students recognize that the AI feedback will help their scores. I'm hopeful that the internal motivation to write a good story that authentically shares their experience will grow. 

The screen shots I've included here are from some of the feedback one student got. She submitted her writing to the AI tool five separate times in one class period. In 20 minutes she got five rounds of feedback. Her story went from 147 words to 415 words, while improving the structure, detail and character development of her narrative. Not all of the feedback is correct. One bad piece of advice was: "Turns out" should be "Turns out" (Yes, those are the same thing.) The AI gave her enough useful and specific feedback to keep her working on positive improvements, without telling her exactly what to write. Here is some advice she got in the third round: Sensory Details: While you've added more context, you could still include a few sensory details. For instance, describe the sound of laughter in PE class or the atmosphere of the lunch area.

The AI Feedback Tool: 

If you haven't used Magic School before, you need to check it out. They have dozens of AI tools that support teachers. To use it with students, I launch Magic Student, pick the tools I want to include, customize them and launch the room. I give my students the link and they can 'enter' the room and use the tools, no login required. Setting up a Magic Student room is quick. See the 30 second gif below. (I cut some of the page loading time, but setting up a room just takes a few minutes.)

We still need human feedback: 

Lets's not make the mistake of letting AI feedback replace human feedback. My students will still engage in writing groups, have writing conferences with me, and get my written comments on their docs. Human feedback still catches things AI can't. Human creativity still provides suggestions AI does not, especially with regard to structure and plot. 

I am very encouraged though, by what a well crafted AI feedback tool can do for students who aren't sure what their next writing moves could be, who struggle with revision, or who just need some encouragement to add more details, or include more dialog.