5 Things I Can Do For My Students’ Writing That “Turnitin” Can’t
I have used Turnitin.com as both a student and a teacher, and although it does save time by allowing students to have their writing revised without me sitting down with each of them, I do feel that it falls short in terms of real writing instruction.
There’s no harm in students getting more feedback, but feedback from artificial intelligence software should not be the only kind that they get. I recently put one of my own papers through Turnitin and realized that robo-revision might not be the end-all, be-all.
Here are five reasons why I think that Turnitin hasn’t put me out of business quite yet.
Recognize students’ writing voice.
I know how my students sound and I know how an SAT question sounds. These two things are not the same. Yes, the online tools might be able to provide suggestions on how to obtain a more formal tone, but student writing voice tends to get lost in the mix. I don’t want my students to think that there is no room to sound like themselves in their writing. As their teacher, I can recognize their voice more readily than an online program and may be able to better tell what they meant in their writing in order to help them revise.
Provide strong positive feedback.
It’s like telling your best friend that even though she always looks great, the dress she has on is hideous. You have to provide students with positive feedback, not just things that they need to work on. Turnitin and other online writing tools do this to an extent, but it seems that they are more focused on the changes that a student needs to make than praising what a student is already doing well. As teachers, we know that students need to hear the good things, too. A defeated student is typically not a motivated one.
Scaffold using knowledge of my students.
We all know the saying: no one knows your students quite like you do. Certainly, Turnitin.com didn’t spend the first two weeks of school trying to build a classroom community like I did. I know my students and I know the uniqueness of their writing, something an artificial intelligent writing tool does not. Turnitin doesn’t know that the ELL student they are helping will have trouble understanding what “change this to active voice” might mean. The terms and suggestions themselves might take translation for students, something that I would know to provide.
Avoid sounding like Google Translate.
You know how in your high school Spanish class, you thought that putting your English words into Google Translate would be enough to write that Spanish essay? But your teacher could always tell? Well, that’s how a lot of robo-revised essays sound. Students click on the suggested edits and end up sounding like a Sparknotes version of themselves. Many of these edits might not even be right for the context, but students click on them because they think that’s what they’re supposed to do. As a teacher, I know the context of their writing better than an online tool, and can help students recognize the revisions that make the most sense.
Give the human touch.
Despite what some may think, teachers aren’t just warm bodies delivering pre-written curriculum to students (although some days it might feel like that). Simply using online tools for writing revision takes away learning opportunities for students to learn how to revise for themselves and can encourage the tendency for students to simply click on all the revisions without a second thought. Taking away teacher instruction, I believe, results in a lack of teaching students how to problem solve through their own revision in order to own both their work and the writing process itself.
I am certainly not advocating for the abolition of all online writing tools. Turnitin and other programs can be a helpful addition to the classroom in so many ways, saving time and providing another layer of feedback for students. In this digital age, using online tools to help students navigate their world is both a necessity and a wonderful resource.
However, do I believe that artificial intelligence can replace a writing conference between student and teacher?
I do not.
