As a former high school English teacher, a big fan of game-based learning, and a person with a keen interest in how artificial intelligence can positively impact student learning, I'm delighted when an edtech tool ticks off all three boxes. Friends, I give you two such tools: WeWillWrite and Short Answer. In a world where we wonder what writing instruction will look like in the near future of school, these AI-empowered tools might show us one possible way.
There are several similarities between the platforms:
- Both combine competitive and cooperative gameplay to writing; an individual student replies to a prompt set by the teacher, then uses established criteria to evaluate the writing of others presented anonymously (providing gamified feedback), "voting" until a winner emerges.
- You should hopefully get enough in the free versions to test out each platform (including premium trials), but as with many AI tools today, you'll have to pay to unlock more features.
- Both have libraries of pre-made material.
- Once the teacher launches an activity, students join with a PIN; the students do not have to create an account.
- There's a process at the end of games that encourages the teacher to show and share submitted responses to elicit further discussion.
- Both platforms have teachers as part of their design teams.
However, both have different strengths. Here's more details on each tool.
WeWillWrite
WeWillWrite was developed by a Norwegian team of educators. (I found it interesting that one of their advisors is Johan Brand, founder of Kahoot, as I can see a bit of Kahoot's design aesthetic in the platform.) WeWillWrite's learning principles are Social, Safe, and Playful; you can read more here.
First, you create a login with email and password (no Google SSO option). After walking you through your teaching areas of interest, you have the ability to create classes to organize your activities inside. You can choose prompts from the library in the "Discover" tab (via filters for ELA-related "Topic" and "Type"), or create your own with the premium plan. The teacher determines the length of the response timer when launching a game.
A "Classroom Simulator" allows you to see what it will look like for you and your students.
 |
| From a Google Slide deck of teacher resources. |
Note that AI generated images are prominently placed alongside the prompts (with the premium plan, you can generate new ones or upload your own images, AI or not). The overall visual look of WeWillWrite seems a bit more appealing to younger students, although I could see high schoolers also enjoying it too.
Before gameplay, students are randomly assigned teams. (Manually selecting team membership doesn't look like an option currently.) For WeWill Write, a student first evaluates writing from their own team, which leads to a text that will represent their team in the game's final for another round of voting; therefore, the team is celebrated at the final leaderboard.
Once students have completed their work, you can view and download results under "Student Texts":
 |
| From a Google Slide deck of teacher resources. |
For an overview of the platform, you can watch this video (1:48):
For more support, a Google Slide deck of teacher resources that could function as a solo PD is available here, which includes "Strategies for Success."
If you're interested in an upgrade, the paid plans are listed here. Besides the ability to create your own content, it gives you full access to the WeWillWrite library, student history of work over time, and allows you to do the "AI literary device analysis" feature as briefly shown in the video overview above.
Short Answer
Short Answer was designed at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, creating "an experience based on learning science." (Cofounder Adam Sparks was an English and Social Studies teacher.) You can read more about their approach here.
You can create a teacher account for Short Answer with Google.
Unlike WeWillWrite, Short Answer does not have a class organizational structure for your activities.
You can choose prompts from the library or create your own (even in the free version). You add "Feedback Criteria" (a bank of suggestions are available). However, it's worth noting that Short Answer's library includes prompts for multiple contents and grade levels -- even, to my surprise, guides to help create prompts for math as high as trigonometry!
 |
| In the "Discover" tab, there are some "Starter Activities" prompts suggested, or tab across to one of the four main academic content areas to see others. |
One of the premium AI features is helping students with stems and outline tools when they begin writing their response.
Short Answer has more gameplay modes than WeWillWrite, such as "All-In," "Pair-It," and "Battle Royale." (And I appreciate that Short Answer provides guided walk-throughs of each game via Arcade.)
 |
| The teacher and student view from the start of a "Battle Royale." |
These games take anywhere from 10 to 45 minutes to complete. Students play the games individually, and as such, the student with the most "points" is celebrated at the final leaderboard. I noticed that a student can attach files or even use LaTeX formula characters in their response.
Once students have completed their work, you can view their individual results, but you cannot export/download results in the free version.
For an overview of the platform, you can watch this video (4:57):
For more support, a robust page of resources is here.
If you're interested in an upgrade, the premium option is described here. Besides some of the features listed above, you can have unlimited question creation, open peer-to-peer feedback options for students, Immersive Reader support, and an additional game called Quick Write that has AI feedback.
As of the published date of this blog entry, it looks like the premium version of Short Answer may cost a bit more than the premium version of WeWillWrite, but to be fair, Short Answer also offers several more premium features.
No comments:
Post a Comment