An introduction to Writing Analytics and the design of automated feedback

Writing Analytics is a subfield of Learning Analytics that focuses on the challenges learners face in writing. It uses natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning technologies to analyse texts, and can be used to provide automated formative feedback on student writing.

This online workshop introduces educators and researchers to the affordances of writing analytics and automated writing feedback tools for students. We will first provide an overview of writing analytics techniques with examples of their educational applications. We will then demo and explain the usage of the open-source tool ‘AcaWriter’ developed by the Connected Intelligence Centre, University of Technology Sydney, which provides all students 24/7 instant feedback on their writing. We will provide practical context by explaining how we co-design and evaluate this tool with educators and students, and how it is integrated with learning design.

A set of resources including Python code to generate sample automated feedback messages for technical participants, a learning design template for educators, and follow-up readings for all, will be shared with workshop participants to enable them to go deeper after the event.