Thursday, December 14, 2023

EdTech Cool Tool - Class Companion

This post is Day 14 of my "Cool Tools 2023" series where we are exploring some of the year's best tools for teaching and learning.

This year we are focusing on artificial intelligence tools and how they can be used in schools.

You can access all of the cool tools in the series as they come out at bit.ly/cool-tools-23 and in this Google Slideshow.

For this entry in the series we are taking a look at: Class Companion

See below for details, directions, uses, and links for this artificial intelligence resource. If you have used this tool, please consider sharing your experiences, how you have used it, tips, tricks, and more.


▶️ Video Demo (11 minutes)




✍️ Class Companion

classcompanion.com

Class Companion is a free AI tool for instant, personalized feedback on written assignments. In short:
  • You create a written assignment from scratch, imported, from the library, or AI generated.
  • Students then write their response, including short answer, essay, or outline.
  • The AI assesses the student writing based on the rubric and instructions you provided.
  • The AI gives detailed personalized feedback to the student on their writing.
  • If allowed, the student then rewrites their response to improve it.
  • As needed, the students can ask the AI questions for clarification and assistance.


Here are the basics for using Class Companion.
  • First create an account at classcompanion.com
  • Next you will want to set up your classes.
  • Click the "Create a class" button and enter the "Class name" and "Subject".
  • If your subject is not listed, simply type in the name of your subject and then click the option for "Type a new subject" to add it.


Next you can invite your students to your class.
  • Click the "Add students" button and then click "Copy link to share".
  • You can now give this link to your students any way that work for you, such as in Google Classroom, Schoology, Canvas, in an email, etc.


Next you will want to start creating assignments.
  • Click the "Add assignments" button to begin.
  • There are four options for creating an assignment:
  • Duplicate from Library - Make a copy of an assignment shared by someone else in the community
  • Generate with AI - Give the AI the basic details for the assignment and the AI will set it up for you
  • Import - Copy and paste the content from any assignment you have done in the past and Clss Companion will convert it into an assignment in this system
  • Create from Scratch - Fill in all of the details ad options by yourself


Here are the basic parts of an assignment...

Assignment Settings:
  • Choose the format including Short answer, Essay, or Outline.
  • Name your assignment
  • Optionally add it to a Unit or Topic for your class.


Rubric:
  • Choose from a pre-made rubric.
  • Or choose a rubric you have created in the past.
  • Or create a new rubric.
  • Rubrics can be simple description of how to grade, or they can be a multi-part table-format rubric with criteria and levels.


Content:
  • Here you can add your instructions.
  • You can also add the Source or Excerpt by pasting it in.
  • Or you can upload an image to serve as the content to be referenced in the writing.


Questions:
  • Now you can add the questions for the assignment.
  • You are also able to add sub-questions under any question.


Submission Settings:
  • Finally you can choose how many times a student is allowed to submit a written answer for a question.
  • If you choose "1" then they are not able to revise and resubmit their first response.
  • If you choose something greater than "1" then the student is able to take the feedback from the AI to rewrite, improve, and resubmit their response.
  • Note: Students are also able to ask questions of the AI to get clarification, instruction, and assistance in general. These types of questions  do not count against the submission limit.



Here are the basics of the student experience...
  • When the student opens the assignment they will be presented with any readings or images you provided, as well as the questions to answer.
  • After the student types in their response, they will get personalized feedback from the AI based on how well the writing met the rubric criteria.
  • If the assignment allows for multiple attempts the student can rewrite and resubmit their response.


  • Students are also able to ask questions of the AI to get clarification, instruction, and assistance in general.
  • These types of questions do not count against the submission limit.



Here are the basics of the teacher review experience...
  • At any point the teacher can view the student work even if the student has not completed the entire assignment.
  • When viewing the assignment the teacher will see:
  • Everything the student has written.
  • Any questions the student has asked the AI.
  • All of the feedback responses from the AI.
  • The grade given by the AI.
  • How much time the student spent on each writing.
  • Anytime the student has pasted in text rather than type the text, which may indicate academic integrity issues.


Note: The teacher is allowed to override the grade given by the AI if they wish.



💰 Pricing

Class Companion is completely free for teachers and students.


🧰 Resources

Be sure to check out the other blog posts in the "Cool Tools 2023" series at bit.ly/cool-tools-23 and in the Google Slideshow.


For additional AI videos, resource documents, blog posts, and more, be sure to check out my main AI resource page at:


And if you are looking for AI professional development, please consider bringing me to your school, organization, or conference. I have a wide range of AI-related training sessions which you can see in my PD catalog here:



Post by Eric Curts
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