University of Michigan Uses Machine Learning to Improve Student Writing

Beginning in fall 2017, some students and educators at the University of Michigan may be getting help on writing assignments from computers. Campus Technology reports that a team of educators developed a writing-to-learn tool called M-Write, which uses automated text analysis (ATA) to identify the strengths of a writing submission. Developed by two professors, the tool was initially meant to help students grow their conceptual learning skills in large courses and to help streamline the grading process, reports a UMich article. ATA works by "using a variety of text analysis techniques, such as vocabulary matching or topic matching, which the algorithm detects." Using M-Write also lets educators identify the students who are going to need help.