The challenge of writing

Scribo combines the power of human cognition, ML and AI into an extended capability for the advancement of student-centred learning outcomes in all tertiary environments.

bene scribere

Imagine you are charged with the task of writing a response to a defined question or to solve a problem. The general nature the question or problem is understood, but the solution can take an infinite number of forms, and the criteria for judging the success of any solution are variable.

While you may have seen or inquired into how others solved this or a similar problem, the processes they used for creating these solutions are mostly hidden and involve a variety of different cognitive approaches you can't emulate.

To make this problem even more challenging, the solution must be understood by others who are missing vital information, which may or may not unfold as the solution is examined.

Sounds like an almost impossible task, doesn’t it?

This daunting problem is an apt description for writing.

Paraphrased from Steve Graham and Karen Harris (2016) begin the article “A Path To Better Writing”‌

Writing at an academic level is a challenge for many university students. Researching and writing extended responses for advanced questions or problems can be stressful. This stress amplifies when students inherently lack strong writing skills to start with. Students tell us they crave guidance and feedback as they work rather than on completion. Students also tell us they look at all options to simply get work done.‌

Tutors and academic staff face their own significant challenges when it comes to review and supervision of written work. Having visibility over students work to provide sufficient student support is a big issue. Maximising tutor and academic effort and time for feedback on content related matters is another.‌ Maintaining connectivity and collaboration with students whilst minimising personal contact is an additional complication that needs resourcing. With active integration to Microsoft Teams, Scribo quickly becomes an online resource to improve connection whilst reducing the potential risk of face time collaboration.

What does Scribo do?

Scribo is an intelligent online writing assistant that supports and reviews the writing of every student, delivering feedback on their text in seconds. Scribo builds personalised feedback from the student's work by checking multiple levels of text analysis. The resulting feedback targets where students could improve their writing techniques and lift overall quality, as they work.‌ This instant alignment of feedback introduces a zero-wait-state service for students, running on demand 24x7.

If desired, Scribo allows tutors and academic staff to live-monitor student progress, adding feedback quickly and simply as students work. 'Journey based' monitoring and mentoring adds significant value to student writing outcomes. Scribo reduces the time tutors and academic staff spend monitoring student work, giving and tracking feedback. Fast feedback options minimise the time needed for feedback whilst maximising the connection and impact of the feedback. Whilst this option is not requisite to the collection of student data, it is a practical way for tutors and academic staff to be part of the monitoring process, providing students with an efficient access to learning support.‌ Additional value is found in the data collected.

Quality writing is a journey, not a destination and comprises more skill than just good grammar and spelling. Educators understand this. Educators also understand that to grow academic writing quality, students need consistent support, feedback and mentoring. Time for feedback on these critical processes has to come from somewhere but alas never does. This is where Scribo leans in and helps.‌ Scribo is cost effective, scalable and able to meet demands quickly and consistently.

Aside from writing well, a key quality of every good writer is having the ability (and humility) to edit their own work. Knowing that a text can always improve and be more authentic is what makes it better. Less confident writers however lack core writing skills let alone editing skills. These writers need additional support and guidance to encourage them to create, improve and then edit their writing. Scribo delivers this help and guidance to all writers, across all subjects.

"The objective of every sentence you write is to make your audience want to read the next one."

As Scribo works with students, tutors and academic staff, Scribo collects and communicates data to leaders of Universities. Scribo builds data to benchmark courses, meet the regulatory demands of English language study assistance and identify where additional student resources and support is needed. Live and real time data helps to identify students at risk. Reducing the risk of students leaving courses or ceasing study due to insufficient literacy support is a key objective of every education provider.‌

Welcome to Scribo for Tertiary. We help students and Universities meet their respective challenges by bringing all stakeholders together in a modular approach to supporting the growth of academic writing quality.‌

Below you you will find the most frequently asked questions we answer. As you can see there are quite a few but the answers are simple. That's a good sign!