Building on our recent look at how the SchoolAI Chrome Extension can streamline your daily or weekly workflow, we are diving deeper into a specific feature that has quickly become one of the most requested tools in the district: the Revision History Viewer.
While the "Sidekick" sidebar is an incredible asset for generating feedback and differentiating reading passages, it also provides a transparent window into the student writing process through its Writing Analysis suite.
Bringing Transparency to the Writing Process
The Revision History Viewer allows teachers to move beyond static timestamps. Instead of manually sifting through version history, this tool provides a clear, visual map of how a student constructed their Google Doc. This helps educators identify:
- Organic Construction: Seeing the natural, sentence-by-sentence evolution of a student's thoughts.
- Writing Patterns: Distinguishing between steady typing and sudden "text jumps" (copy/paste), which can serve as a helpful starting point for conversations about academic integrity.
- Process Transparency: Gaining a better understanding of the active writing time and effort invested in a final product.
By focusing on the transparency of the writing journey, you can shift your role from being a "detector" to a visionary educator who understands how your students actually engage with their work.
***Note*** You must be an editor of the Google Document to be able to run Revision History Viewer.A Simple How-To Guide
- Open the Doc: Navigate to any student assignment in Google Docs.
- Launch the Sidekick: Open the SchoolAI extension from your browser sidebar.
- Analyze: Select the Writing Analysis option to find the Revision History Viewer.
- Review: Use the visual map to see the document's construction from start to finish.
This tool is designed to support academic integrity by making it easier for both students and teachers to have a shared understanding of original work.
Ready for a Demo?
If you would like to see how the Revision History Viewer can specifically support your classroom, we are here to help! Whether you want to brainstorm a new workflow or see a live demonstration, your building’s Tech Team is ready to partner with you.
To get the most out of a demo, please have at least one document of student work ready so we can examine the Revision History Viewer together using a real-world example.
If you need any assistance installing the extension or want to see this feature in action, don’t hesitate to reach out to your building Technology Coaches for personalized help.