Revisely (https://revise.ly/) is designed for language learning courses, as it supports text correction and feedback to students in English, Spanish and Dutch (with French and German under development). The company is based in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Revisely is a web application that can be used as part of a learning management system or as a stand-alone product; it works on laptop and mobile devices.
In order to use Revisely, instructors create the writing assignment, including information on the criteria used for marking, and sends it to the student. The students can cut and paste their work into Revisely or write the text into Revisely itself, which then sends their work to Revisely.
Spell Check: The first step (for texts in English and Dutch) is the application of a spell check program that points out some errors for each student’s paper and also categorizes the errors for a class assignment so the instructor has a sense of where their students are struggling.
Content Review: Instructors then see each submitted text on the correction screen and determine errors and strengths of text according to grammar, structure and other writing criteria. A database of 500 comments can be accessed to provide pertinent feedback for each student on issues needing correction and attention, as well as areas of progress and mastery. A plagiarism check can also be run on each text.
Categorized Comments: The comments prepared for instructor use are organized by category – verbs, adjective accord, etc. The instructor highlights the text, goes to comment area and chooses appropriate feedback to be recorded on student’s paper. Instructors can also create their own collection of preferred responses they use the most often for greater convenience.
Assessment: The instructor is presented with the text, the weighted criteria established for marking and the comments they assigned in order to determine a mark. Websites and documents can be appended to assignments and sent to all or selected students.
Dashboard: The instructors’ dashboard keeps them informed on who has submitted assignments, how many are ready to be marked, students that need reminding, and other administrative and communication issues.
Reporting: Students get the criteria for marking, their marks, and the annotated text and can track their progress in Revisely. The software provides reports on student and class progress, areas of difficulty, and other benchmarks for planning and assessment.
Jeroen Fransen, CEO, Revisely
Development and Plans for Revisely: Jeroen Fransen, CEO of Revisely, describes the product as bringing together language, people, and technology. His marketing strategy is to make Revisely available for a free trial period with unrestricted capabilities. Once the trial period is over, Revisely charges the institution an annual per-student fee, with extra modules, such as other languages and a plagiarism check, available as add-ons. A partnership with D2L makes Revisely available as a plug-in within the Brightspace learning management system.
As well as creating versions that can be used with French and German texts, Jeroen would like to see Revisely used by teachers in subjects other than languages to check students’ written work, becoming a tool used by instructors in both K-12 and higher education. Revisely is working with the Tillburg School of Humanities, part of the University of Tillburg in The Netherlands, to further develop the tool‘s application for higher education.
In late 2014, Revisley was awarded €100,000 by the European Commission from a fund dedicated to accelerating start-ups focused on Internet and mobile applications.
In the first months of 2016, Revisely welcomed their 50,000th user, received a €375,000 investment, and was selected as a resource by Finnish edtech accelerator xEdu. They are currently looking for additional locations to initiate free pilot projects.
For more information:
Maartje Wissink
Chief Operating Officer
Revisely
[email protected]
