The company Class Companion, founded by CEO Avery Pan in 2023 and based out of San Francisco, CA, provides personalized AI feedback for written assignments, allowing students to practice at their own pace and teachers to save time on grading.
Social studies teachers at this school have used this platform to help students progress on assignments without spending time grading them individually. The burden of time grading puts on teachers can be prohibitive. Teachers may not be able to help every student every single time. “You strive to do everything you can for students, but there are only 24 hours in the day. Our mission is to defy that limit. We make it possible to give students unlimited practice and instant feedback without being overburdened with work,” the Class Companion website said.
Students may find new levels of motivation after using this platform. The feedback and tips to achieve mastery help students make adjustments instantly. After writing an assignment and putting it into the application, the AI provides tips and comments to move students to a mastery level of knowledge. “After using Class Companion in history and getting a four out of nine on my first attempt, getting proper feedback helped me achieve my desired score on my second attempt: a nine out of nine. I also felt the tips it taught me were beneficial; I used the tips on the unit test, where I got 28 out of 30,” junior Vikram Mishra said.
According to the company website, Pan had a goal to partner with teachers and help them with time management. Pan grew up in a household of English teachers and was a writing tutor. “I have amazing educators in my life. My mom and mother-in-law were English teachers, and I still keep in touch with my Deerfield High School teachers (Go Warriors!). As a writing tutor, I appreciate the heart that goes into detailed feedback,” Pan said on the website.
Along with other social studies teachers, sociology and AP Psychology teacher Amy Buckingham used this platform to allow students to reach a level of mastery during their first timed writing of an Article Analysis Question (AAQ). Students were given a prompt and asked to respond in class. The addition of unlimited attempts allowed students to ace this assignment. Students worked and fixed their mistakes from the AI’s feedback until they received a satisfactory score. “After working on my AAQ and putting it into Class Companion and giving me help I got my perfect score I wanted,” junior Danielle Rubin said.
