Plymouth Marjon University Enhances Student Support with AI-powered Studiosity+

Plymouth Marjon University has incorporated Studiosity’s AI technology, Studiosity+, into its student support services, providing real-time formative feedback on students' written assignments. 

The enhancement, part of the university's round-the-clock study skills service initiated in 2018, aims to support academic writing across the student body by leveraging artificial intelligence.

Launched in February, Studiosity+ is designed to offer ethical and equitable feedback on academic writing quickly, assisting in maintaining degree programme standards. It employs a "Humans in the Loop" methodology to ensure the quality and integrity of its feedback mechanism, allowing for oversight and academic governance.

The service enables the university to monitor students' progress, including developing critical thinking skills, and identify academic challenges. This data can inform broader institutional strategies for improving student support.

Studiosity has been utilised by Plymouth Marjon University since 2018. It provides access to Writing Feedback, a service that offers feedback on grammar, spelling, structure, and readability within an average of five hours, and Connect Live, a platform for real-time, personalised academic support.

With the introduction of Studiosity+, the university now offers near-instant feedback on writing assignments, enhancing its existing support services. 

 “We started working with Studiosity because we have a lot of first-in-family students, a lot of mature students who may have been out of education for a long time, and a lot of students from disadvantaged backgrounds who might not necessarily come to university with the required writing skills,” said Kerry Kellaway, Head of Library at Plymouth Marjon University.

 “Over the last five years we have built an incredible relationship with Studiosity, and the study support service is well respected and well used by our students, so when they told us about their AI development we were really excited. They have modelled good use of AI practice and Studiosity+ is an exemplar of what AI can do. 

“We see Studiosity+ as a research assistant – you have a draft assignment, and it makes suggestions on what to do to improve it – it does not do it for you. It acts as a critical friend, shows you where you can develop, and takes out the waiting time and uncertainty caused by delays. To hear AI and ethical in one sentence is also hugely reassuring to our students, and this will be an important part of their study toolkit.

 “Studiosity’s turnaround time has always been amazing – just five hours for rich feedback – but as many of our students also have jobs, family and caring responsibilities Studiosity+ can keep help them on task during the time they have for study, particularly out of regular hours. With this additional support they can stay focused on each piece of work, feel more confident and on track, and make better use of their study time.”

 The university aims for 40% of its students to use Studiosity+, integrating it into pedagogical tools for initial assessments. 

“We love that Studiosity+ is blended with the personal,” explained Kellaway. “Humans are still there, just more in a quality assurance role; if students do not understand the feedback this is where the ‘in-person’ Connect Live comes in through our wider Studiosity package. You cannot get this blended 24/7 approach elsewhere on the market.

 “Studiosity+ shows students they are in complete control of what they have invested in. It is a visible indicator of what their tuition fees go towards and, with up to 100 submissions per student, proves just how valued it is, including usage for iterative learning. It is also excellent value for money for us as a university and has been very well received by students and academics alike. Implementation was really easy, seamless in fact, and we are looking forward to having data analytics that hook up with central data repository tools too, making it more usable across the institution over time.

 “Through the Studiosity+ dashboard we hope to see improvements, such as more gaps between use and less reliance on the service over time, as well as through other metrics it can provide which we feel are really compelling.”

Isabelle Bristow, Studiosity’s Managing Director for UK and Europe, said: “We are delighted to extend our partnership with Plymouth Marjon University. Our latest research, commissioned through YouGov as part of our Global Student Wellbeing Survey, found that the majority of students in most countries now expect their university to offer AI support tools. 

“Speed of feedback and improving confidence, specifically to check they are on the right track through their assignment, are the main reasons. Studiosity+ meets this demand, and supports our mission to provide personal, at-scale, ethical, formative feedback which complements and amplifies in-house university student support services.”