WriteLab

Browser-based service designed for high school and higher education students that provide specific feedback and editing suggestions to uploaded essays

Overview

WriteLab is a browser-based service designed for high school and higher education students that provide specific feedback and editing suggestions to uploaded essays. Students upload their work, and WriteLab automatically suggests editing changes not only pertaining to basic conventions, but also with evaluations on the logic, cohesion, and clarity of the work; teachers can also electronically edit student’s work alongside WriteLab’s suggestions, and view an assessment tool that analyzes student progress. WriteLab offers a free a premium version.

Approach

After creating an account, students can upload and manage their writing work. WriteLab uses machine learning technology to assess the clarity, concision, logic, coherence, and cohesion the writing, and provides actionable comments as suggestions for the student. Students can then view these comments, which are colored according to the feature that is being addressed, and organize them as “unaddressed,””addressed,” or “not helpful.” Students can also write notes on their writing and share it with others. If a student has joined a course, he or she can view assignments, control which drafts the instructor has access to, review instructor comments, and communicate with instructors electronically.

Tutors and instructors can create and manage courses through the website. After students have been identified, instructors can create and edit assignments. As student submit their work, instructors can highlight and comment on certain features of the work using the same color code alongside WriteLab’s comments. In addition, instructors can also review WriteLab’s analytics or create customized graphs and filter certain assessment information.

WriteLab can also create a writing center for each institution. After creating a writing center with WriteLab, administrators can invite tutors and students. Writing centers using WriteLab have access to all WriteLab resources and organizational tools.

Implementation

WriteLab is a browser-based service that is not mobile optimized.

Pricing

WriteLab offers a free and premium service. The free service limits the functionality and number of draft submissions. Pricing for premium services was not disclosed.

Who is using it

WriteLab is currently used by about 1,500 students and instructors. WriteLab is mainly used by universities and colleges.