Quill.org is an education technology nonprofit that helps over 750,000 learners around the world improve their writing and critical thinking skills through innovative technological approaches. We're grateful to have support from organizations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Google.org, and AT&T Foundation.
Quill was recently featured in Fast Company and the Google Machine Learning blog for our work applying cutting-edge machine learning techniques to helping learners become better writers and critical thinkers. We leverage this technology alongside a proven curriculum of learning techniques from top educational researchers.
Learners begin by completing a diagnostic activity that provides the learning management system enough information to predict where the student is strong and where they need improvement. Then, teachers can assign follow up activities that provide practice targeted specifically to where the student is falling short. (There are even special versions of the diagnostic for English language learners whose first languages are Spanish, Mandarin, French, Vietnamese, Arabic, and Hindi.)
Quill has a variety of activity types, including a real-time classroom lessons mode, a sentence construction tool, a proofreading practice tool and a grammar practice tool.
Each tool has associated algorithms for assessing and providing targeted feedback in response to student submissions. These algorithms utilize rules-based logic, natural language processing, and machine learning.
Up until now, Quill has primarily been built as a tool for educators to use with their students. This means that Quill does not currently have a self-study mode for learners who are not in a classroom setting. We're excited for the GSoC community to help leverage Quill's progress so far into a learning tool that can assist millions of learners around the world who deserve better education.
- Twitter: To apply to Quill.org for Google Summer of Code, please use the following template:
What is your project idea? Briefly describe the idea you have for your project. How will Quill be different if your project is successful?
How would this project help learners, educators, or the Quill open source community? If your project is a new feature for Quill, please share how you think it will positively impact our community of learners and educators. If your project is an improvement to the Quill open source workflow, please share how you think it will positively impact our open source developer community.
How will you go about tackling the project? Please provide a high-level overview of how you plan to go about implementing your project. If you're building a new feature, please include wireframes.
Please share a detailed plan of what you plan to have done and by when, including monthly milestones so we know whether you're on track. This plan should be as detailed as possible, including everything from project architecture down to implementation details.
Why are you the right person to complete this project? What about your background makes you qualified for this project?
Please share a few examples of open source code you've written. Help us get a better idea of how good you are at what you do!
Where will you be during the summer, and will you have any other commitments? Please be aware that GSoC is meant to be a full-time commitment.