Assessment and feedback sit at the heart of teaching and learning. Yet across schools, colleges and universities, they are also among the most time-consuming responsibilities educators face.

Evenings spent marking. Weekends catching up on feedback. Long delays between submission and response.

At the same time, research consistently shows that feedback is one of the most powerful drivers of student progress.

“Feedback is the most powerful single influence on student achievement.”

John Hattie, Visible Learning

The challenge facing the sector is clear: how can educators deliver meaningful feedback quickly without overwhelming workload?

To help address this challenge, TeacherMatic has officially launched the Advanced Feedback Generator, a new tool designed to support educators in delivering timely, structured and actionable feedback while keeping teachers firmly in control of the process.

Watch the Launch Webinar

Across the sector, several challenges continue to appear:

• educators spending large portions of their working week marking
• feedback often arriving too late to influence the next piece of work
• students struggling to interpret feedback clearly
• increasing expectations for detailed written commentary

National student surveys have repeatedly highlighted assessment and feedback as one of the lowest-scoring areas of the student experience, showing how persistent this issue remains.

Timing is especially important.

Research into the forgetting curve shows that when feedback is delayed, retention and motivation decline. Students struggle to connect feedback to the thinking behind their original work.

Timely feedback therefore supports:

• stronger learning retention
• improved reflection and metacognition
• clearer next steps for improvement
• more meaningful dialogue between student and teacher

Yet delivering fast, high-quality feedback consistently is extremely difficult when educators are already under pressure.

The Feedback Workload Challenge

Across the education sector, marking and feedback remain one of the most significant contributors to teacher workload.

Many educators report spending large portions of their week on assessment tasks, often extending far beyond contracted hours.

This creates a difficult tension.

Students need timely feedback to improve.

Teachers need manageable workloads to sustain high-quality teaching.

The Advanced Feedback Generator was created to help address this challenge by reducing friction in the feedback process while maintaining professional oversight.

Introducing the Advanced Feedback Generator

The Advanced Feedback Generator builds on TeacherMatic’s existing feedback tools with several powerful new capabilities designed specifically for real assessment workflows.

Bulk Upload of Student Work

Educators can upload multiple student assignments simultaneously, allowing feedback to be generated across a cohort quickly and consistently.

This significantly reduces the time required to produce structured feedback while still allowing educators to review and refine outputs.

Inline PDF Annotation

One of the most requested features from the TeacherMatic community was the ability to annotate work directly.

The generator now allows educators to:

• view student work within the platform
• annotate PDFs directly
• combine AI-generated feedback with manual comments
  
  

This ensures feedback remains specific, contextual and actionable.

Hybrid Marking: AI and Professional Judgement

A central principle behind the generator is Human-in-the-Loop design.

The tool is not designed to replace teachers or automate grading. Instead, it acts as a drafting assistant that helps educators work more efficiently.

In practice, the workflow follows a simple principle.

AI accelerates drafting.
Teachers make the decisions.

AI can:

• structure feedback quickly
• highlight strengths and misconceptions
• draft clear commentary

Educators then:

• review accuracy
• refine tone and nuance
• apply professional judgement

This hybrid approach reflects the 80/20 principle that often emerges in AI-supported workflows.

AI accelerates the process.
Teachers remain responsible for the outcome.

AI as a Teaching Assistant, Not a Replacement

TeacherMatic has always been built around the principle of augmentation.

AI can help draft feedback, structure commentary and reduce repetitive workload. But the interpretation of student work, the encouragement offered to learners and the professional judgement behind feedback remain firmly with the educator.

In education, the conversation is not really about AI replacing teachers. Teaching is a deeply human profession built on relationships, judgement and experience.

Instead, tools like the Advanced Feedback Generator are designed to support educators by accelerating parts of the workflow that take time but add little pedagogical value.

In simple terms: AI accelerates the process. Teachers remain in control.

Insights from the Jisc AI Assessment Pilot

The development of the Advanced Feedback Generator has been informed by collaboration with institutions participating in the Jisc AI assessment pilot project.

Early findings from participating colleges and universities highlighted several key benefits.

Reduced Feedback Workload

Participants reported that AI-supported drafting significantly reduced the time required to produce structured feedback.

This allowed educators to focus more on:

• supporting learner improvement
• refining feedback quality
• coaching students through feedback conversations
  
  

Faster Feedback Cycles

By accelerating the drafting stage, feedback can be returned much sooner after submission.

This helps close the learning loop and allows students to apply feedback while the work is still fresh in their minds.

Improved Consistency

Structured AI drafting can help educators deliver feedback that is:

• clearer
• more structured
• more consistently aligned with assessment criteria

Across departments, this can improve the overall quality and clarity of feedback students receive.

Potential to Reduce Bias

Some participants also noted that structured feedback drafting may help reduce unintended bias in wording, particularly when marking large numbers of assignments.

Professional judgement remains essential, but structured drafting can help support fairness and clarity.

Lessons for Institutions

The pilot also highlighted important considerations for institutions introducing AI into assessment workflows.

Successful adoption requires careful planning around:

Policy

Clear guidance on when and how AI can support feedback.

Permissions

Decisions about who can use tools and in which contexts.

Staff Guidance

Practical guidance to support responsible use.

Institutional Planning

Recognising that AI-supported feedback may significantly change marking workflows.

These organisational factors are just as important as the technology itself.

What Comes Next

The Advanced Feedback Generator will continue to evolve as institutions provide feedback and new use cases emerge.

Future developments being explored include:

• cohort-level feedback insights
• deeper integration with learning platforms
• specialist generators for vocational frameworks
  
  

Several new tools are also currently being tested, including generators designed for:

• BTEC assessment
• apprenticeship portfolios
• portfolio comparison
  
  

The long-term goal is to build a comprehensive ecosystem supporting assessment and feedback workflows across education.

Getting Started with TeacherMatic

If you would like to explore TeacherMatic further, you can start with the free introductory course:

Getting Started with TeacherMatic

Institutions looking to introduce TeacherMatic across departments can also access the rollout strategy guide:

TeacherMatic Rollout Guide

Stay Connected

For tutorials, product updates and webinars, subscribe to the TeacherMatic YouTube channel:

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