Developer Diary #5: Scaling Up and Improving User Experience

Welcome to the fifth installment of our Developer Diary series! In this edition, we’re sharing insights from our recent large-scale testing, along with updates and bug fixes that will enhance your experience with TeachersAI.

Over the past fortnight, our primary focus has been on testing our systems at scale. Initially, TeachersAI was designed for individual teacher accounts, but early on in our launch, several schools expressed interest in using the program across their entire institution. This interest prompted us to adapt our system to accommodate both individual teacher accounts and whole school accounts. As part of this transition, we have been developing the infrastructure necessary for school accounts, which we aim to have ready at some point late in Term 3.

To ensure our backend servers can handle the increased load, we conducted a stress test with one of our early adopter schools, testing the system at a cohort level. This test was crucial in evaluating our backend capabilities and identifying any potential issues. While more testing is planned, we are pleased to report that this initial round was largely successful. The insights gained from this process are invaluable as we refine our system to support both individual teachers and entire schools, ultimately providing a more robust and reliable platform for all users.

Implementing Feedback

The feedback from this testing phase has been instrumental in guiding our improvements. Based on the input we received, we are making several key enhancements, which should go live over the next fortnight, to better support our users:

• Word Counter for Students: To assist students in managing their writing tasks, we are introducing a word counter feature. This will allow students to easily track their word count as they write, helping them stay within assignment guidelines and improve their writing skills.
• Autosave Feature: We have received reports of students losing their work when refreshing the page. To address this, we are implementing an autosave feature that will periodically save students’ progress. This enhancement aims to prevent data loss and ensure that students’ efforts are preserved.
• UI Improvements: To enhance the writing experience, we are working on expanding the text input field. This change will allow students to see more of their work at once, especially for longer texts, making it easier to review and edit their writing.

Bug Fixes

In addition to these new features, we’ve also been addressing several bugs to improve the overall functionality of our platform:

• Adding Students to Classes: We fixed an issue where adding students via Excel uploads resulted in a generic error message. This process is now smooth and error-free, allowing for seamless class management.
• Text Input Formatting Issues: We resolved a bug where excessive spaces and other formatting issues in the text input field prevented the AI from correctly reading and providing feedback on student work. This fix should now ensures that all students’ submissions are accurately processed and evaluated.

These updates and fixes are based on the valuable feedback we have received from our users. We appreciate your continued input, which helps us to improve and refine TeachersAI, making it a more effective tool for educators and students alike.

Moving Forward

As we continue to develop and enhance TeachersAI, we are committed to implementing the valuable feedback we receive from our users. The enhancements mentioned above, such as the word counter for students, the autosave feature, and UI improvements, are expected to go live over the next fortnight. We believe these updates will significantly improve the user experience and address some of the key issues reported during the testing phase.

Other feedback and suggestions are also being worked on, though some of these may take more time to develop and implement. We will keep you informed about our progress and let you know as these additional features become available.

If you are interested in learning more about our upcoming school accounts, including the implementation timeframe, becoming a trial school, or details on costing, please feel free to contact me directly at [email protected]. We are excited about the potential of this new feature and look forward to collaborating with schools to ensure it meets their needs.

Thank you for being a part of our journey and for your continued support and feedback. Together, we are making TeachersAI a more powerful and effective tool for educators and students. We appreciate your patience and engagement as we work towards our goal of enhancing the educational experience for all users.

Cheers,

Stuart