Rohan Gupta
Co-Founder and CEO, Quillbot
Writing comes naturally to many students. For others, the lack of language skills can be a barrier to learning as they progress through the educational system.
There is a growing number of AI-based learning tools that can support students in the classroom and enhance the learning experience. How can teachers leverage tools like this to help their students whether they’re learning a new language, tackling complex maths problems or trying to express their ideas in writing?
Level the playing field
CEO of QuillBot, Rohan Gupta, suggests that AI-based writing tools have value in “levelling the playing field” in the classroom. Writing can be a barrier across various subjects and gets increasingly difficult as students move through secondary school and eventually college, where expectations significantly increase.
“QuillBot’s goal is to guide and empower students to be the editor of their ideas by allowing them to express how they want something written,” says Gupta. “By learning to write better, students build confidence, better communication skills, and a path to success.”
He says AI-based writing tools should be viewed in the same way that calculators are for math — as a classroom aid supporting a student to achieve the right answer. For example, some native speaking students may have a weak grasp of their own language and need help with the grammar and syntax, while non-native speakers can struggle with simple sentences. And then there are students who are hiding a learning disability and struggle to find the right words to express themselves.
Writing is a skill that is practiced and developed over time, and sometimes students who struggle with word choice, grammar or sentence structure need a support tool to help them find alternatives.
By learning to write better, students build confidence, better communication skills, and a path to success.
Embracing AI-based writing technology in the classroom
AI-based technology is here to stay and determining the role it will play in our classrooms will benefit both students and teachers.
QuillBot’s intention is to be a creative learning partner for the end user. When students receive real-time feedback while in the process of writing they develop a deeper level of knowledge about how to write.
In turn, teachers can get to know their students and understand their ideas at a more meaningful level
“There are many students who didn’t have the same degree of English education in high school and middle school but are brilliant in other fields like STEM,” says Gupta. “By leveling the playing field with AI-based tools in the classroom, each student has access to the same learning opportunities and outcome as their peers.”
The classroom of the future
AI augmentation will drive efficiency and quality on the side of the educator and enable them to provide more impactful, individualised feedback to students. Teachers can then spend time on higher order feedback vs. the minutia of syntax or grammar.
Gupta emphasises that AI writing tools should be a guide in the learning process. The point of tools like QuillBot is not to do the work for you but to arrive at a better solution and then walk you through the reason behind it. The intention for these tools and technology is to be a creative thought partner for the end-user and to promote better learning outcomes.