Building Better Thinkers with AI Feedback

In my last post, I talked about the ethics of teachers using AI to provide feedback to students. I also explained some tools teachers could use to support them in providing feedback to students. This week, I want to focus on how teachers can provide opportunities for students to get feedback on their work BEFORE it gets to the teacher. I think we all know how effective "peer feedback" is most of the time. I remember getting my work back from a classmate with comments like "Good." and "I like this." Maybe a couple of markups related to spelling or grammar. Very rarely did I get any in-depth commentary, questions, or suggestions from my teenage peers. What if...instead of (or perhaps in addition to) peer feedback - teachers implemented an AI feedback step?

We do have to be careful, though, because AI feedback can quickly turn into re-writing and losing student voice. So how can we ensure students are getting quality feedback based on our requirements/rubrics while also ensuring that the AI is not changing the work completely? That's where SchoolAI Spaces come in!

This is not my first time writing about SchoolAI Spaces and it probably won't be the last time. But today's focus is on how you can build a Space that provides just the right amount (and style) of critique. SchoolAI is in the midst of changing up the Space creation process, so I don't want to dive too deeply into the "how to" aspect, but if we click the "Create a Space" button on the left side of the screen (and select "Form-based (Classic)" if you have a choice)...you should see something like this on your screen:

Let's say for this example, I am a high school Public Speaking or Current Events teacher asking my students to write a persuasive speech/essay on how or if AI should be regulated in the United States or the world. I want my students to write their work in a Google Doc because I can view the version history and confirm that the writing was not copied and pasted from somewhere else. But once they are finished with their first draft, I want them to copy and paste their work into this AI Space and receive rigorous and detailed feedback based on the rubric I provided.

I would start by uploading my assignment and my rubric via the "Add files" section. Maybe I might want to attach some standards as well if I feel that is important. And then in my prompt, I might write something like this:

After previewing it to make sure it works as intended, I can launch the Space and share it with my students to give them an opportunity to grow as writers before they submit their work to me as the teacher. This method also shows students how they can use AI responsibly and ethically to actually become more thoughtful and reflective writers!