AVID Partners with Packback to Offer Free AI Writing Coach to Grades 7–10

  • By Kate Lucariello
  • 08/01/23

Student success preparation company AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) has teamed up with digital writing tutor Packback to provide free access to Packback’s AI-enabled platform for AVID middle and high school teachers through the 2023-24 school year.

The platform will be available to AVID Excel Elective grade 7-8 teachers and AVID Elective grade 9-10 teachers to help students strengthen their critical thinking and writing skills.

The Packback digital writing coach relies on Bloom’s Taxonomy to foster critical thinking and assigns students a “curiosity score,” the company said. It uses “instructional AI” rather than generative AI, AVID notes.The AI gives students individual feedback as they write and helps them recognize and correct errors in real time. A detection tool for both traditional and AI-generated content alerts teachers so they can see how students are using AI for assignments.

"Packback will help students with their individual learning needs and free up time for AVID teachers to provide students with thoughtful feedback on their content and ideas while also demonstrating what the effective use of AI in the classroom can look like,” said Thuan Nguyen, AVID CEO.

AVID teachers who opt to use the platform will be given training and support, the company said. Packback has already been added to 12 AVID Weeks at a Glance lessons and 12 digital planning guides. In addition, a live webinar on the new integration will be hosted by leaders from both companies and those who have used the platform on Thursday, Aug. 3, at noon PT.

Visit this page to learn more about the partnership and to sign up for the webinar.

About the Author

Kate Lucariello is a former newspaper editor, EAST Lab high school teacher and college English teacher.

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