Leiden students develop AI tool for marking assignments
Entrepreneurship
Jeroen van Gessel’s lecturers didn’t always have time for extensive feedback on his written assignments. So, together with tech-savvy friend Menno Hahury, he founded Eduface, a startup to develop an AI teaching assistant. ‘The first users now work three times faster.'
Jeroen, who is now a first-year law student, often used to receive brief comments on his college assignments, like ‘looks good, keep it up’. When he asked if he could get more feedback, his lecturers said they didn’t have time. So, together with his friend Menno who studies artificial intelligence, he decided to develop a digital solution. ‘We started building our own model around the same time ChatGPT’s popularity was taking off.’
Eduface works with its own AI language model that was trained by students using a vast dataset of writing assignments and corresponding feedback. In addition, the model has been trained to check for the correct use of sources. Eduface works seamlessly with Brightspace, an online learning environment widely used by educational institutions.
How does the app work?
Instead of giving general feedback, the app highlights specific parts of the submitted assignment and adds comments directly. The feedback can relate to academic writing style, for example, or an incorrect formula used in a calculation. Eduface can be used for many fields of study, ranging from mathematics to humanities. The team is currently developing more tailor-made applications for primary education teacher-training, as well as for Law and Medicine.
Big tech companies are launching new innovative AI applications almost every month. So, how can a small student startup compete? Jeroen explains: 'Big tech companies try to make the biggest model that can do everything. Instead, we’ve chosen to make the smallest model that does one thing well. Our approach offers a cheap, low-energy language model that universities can run independently.’
Transparency
Not only that, Eduface is transparent about the data used to train its language model, unlike many large AI companies. Lecturers can also ask the language model at any time why it’s made a certain comment. ‘You can then see the training data the model is using,’ Jeroen explains. Another important feature is that all user data stays within the Netherlands. This is important for educational institutions that have strict privacy requirements for these services.
Eduface received €70,000 in funding from Leiden University’s Enterprise Leiden Fund. 'We used that to build the initial data sets, run the first version of our model and for various tests', says Jeroen. It received an additional €200,000 in funding from Radboud University, the University of Twente and various other partners which was used to develop the app further. Currently, the app is being tested by a number of Dutch and British universities and the initial response is positive. Lecturers say they can give feedback three times faster using the app.
Eduface is not yet being used at Leiden University. 'Its data security needs to be approved by the university,’ says Jeroen. He hopes that his faculty, Leiden Law School, will take part in a pilot. 'Law is definitely a field where a lot is documented. The app can then be precise in its feedback, citing specific case law. I think that’s a great feature of our model.'
Entrepreneurship besides studying
Jeroen works 60 to 70 hours a week, but as a first-year student he still manages to keep up with his studies. 'It helps being a part-time student because I don’t have to attend all the classes. I can follow lectures online when it suits me. And two weeks before an exam, I get my books out and start seriously revising. So far, I’ve managed to pass all my exams.'
Eduface has an office in PLNT, an organisation in Leiden that provides facilities for startups and offers support. 'I was able to take various startup programmes there which were really useful. And you also get to know lots of people which helps too. I’d definitely advise students who want to set up a business to contact them.'
Does Jeroen have any other tips for students who’d like to combine entrepreneurship with their studies? ‘Go for something that’s unique and make sure you have a clear plan.’ Are your studies already taking up a lot of your time? Then Jeroen wouldn’t advise combining that with entrepreneurship. 'But if your studies are going fine and you’ve always dreamt of starting your own business, then by all means go for it. It's definitely feasible, and I really enjoy what I’m doing!'
Eduface is not yet in use at Leiden University. Are you a lecturer at Leiden University and would you like more information about using AI? Please contact the LLInC.