Press Release: A Research Team from HKU Faculty of Education Launches an Innovative AI-Powered Chinese Writing Assessment Platform to Transform Teaching and Learning Experience in Primary and Secondary Schools
新聞稿：香港大學教育學院研究團隊推出開創性人工智能中文寫作評估平台系統 — 「mAI Mind」以提升中小學寫作教育

A Research Team from HKU Faculty of Education Launches an

Innovative AI-Powered Chinese Writing Assessment Platform to Transform Teaching and Learning Experience in Primary and Secondary Schools

Teaching and learning Chinese writing has long been a challenging task for educators and students alike, with teachers struggling to engage students in the writing process and provide personalised feedback, while students often lack motivation and guidance to improve their writing skills. In response to these challenges, a research team from the Faculty of Education at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) has launched its pioneering AI-powered Chinese writing assessment platform —“mAI Mind”. This platform is designed to revolutionise the teaching and learning experience.

Developed with reference to the Hong Kong Chinese Language curriculum framework, genre theory, cognitive process of writing and Territory-wide System Assessment (TSA) assessment criteria, the “mAI Mind” platform aims to assist teachers in generating content and level-appropriate sample texts to facilitate their teaching. It can assess their students’ writing performance with comprehensive feedback on various aspects of writing, including content, structure, sentences, vocabulary usage, punctuation, and overall performance within just one minute. The platform also compares students’ vocabulary usage with the Education Bureau’s “Hong Kong Chinese Lexical Lists for Primary Learning”, enabling analysis of students’ word usage habits. This helps deepen and broaden the post-writing feedback and significantly reduces teachers’ workload.

Additionally, the platform provides students with writing suggestions and frameworks, such as suggesting relevant phrases, sentences, and recommendations for introductions, body paragraphs, and conclusions to support them during the ideation stage of writing, which can help alleviate their learning anxiety. The “mAI Mind” also provides feedback on students’ performance, offering valuable insights for improvement and advancement.

Over the past six months, seven schools have successfully integrated the “mAI Mind” platform into their school-based Chinese writing curriculum, witnessing remarkable results. The platform has proven effective in addressing the challenges in writing education, providing timely and personalised writing suggestions and feedback for students, and significantly improving their writing attitudes and motivation in a short period. As a result, the students have experienced long-term enhancement of their writing abilities.

“We are thrilled to see the positive impact that ‘mAI Mind’ has had on both teachers and students in such a short time,” said Professor Loh Ka Yee Elizabeth, Assistant Dean (Knowledge Exchange) of the Faculty, who led the research and development team. “Our goal is to continue enhancing our platform and adding new functions to empower educators and inspire students to reach their full potential in Chinese writing.”

One of the students of Po Leung Kuk Wong Wing Shui Primary School expressed that the platform’s feedback helped him understand his strengths and weaknesses in writing while providing suggestions for improvement, enhancing the overall structure and aesthetics of his compositions. Ms Choi Ching Yan, a teacher from the same school, praised the platform for its comprehensive and specific feedback, time-saving features, and user-friendly operation.

Ms Keung Yee Wan, panel head of Chinese Language from Free Methodist Mei Lam Primary School, observed that students actively engaged in self-directed learning and sought self-improvement by inputting their writing into the platform and continuously revising their writing by receiving instant feedback throughout the writing process.

The development of the “mAI Mind” demonstrates the Faculty of Education’s commitment to leveraging cutting-edge technology to enhance teaching and learning. The system’s data analysis capabilities not only alleviate teachers’ assessment pressures but also enhance the focus and depth of writing feedback. By providing targeted and meaningful guidance, the “mAI Mind” is transforming the learning and teaching landscape of Chinese writing.

For media enquiries, please contact Professor Loh Ka Yee Elizabeth, Project Leader of the “mAI Mind” (Tel: 3917 8399 / Email: [javascript protected email address]) or Ms Cheryl Cheung, Senior Manager (Development and Communications), Faculty of Education, HKU (Tel: 3917 4270 / Email: [javascript protected email address]).

July 25, 2024

香港大學教育學院研究團隊推出開創性人工智能中文寫作評估平台系統 —

「mAI Mind」以提升中小學寫作教育

一直以來，中文寫作教與學對教育工作者和學生來說都是一項具有挑戰性的任務，教師想盡辦法讓學生積極參與寫作過程，並盡力提供個人化的回饋；學生卻往往缺乏寫作動機，亦難以純熟地運用各種寫作技能。為了應對這些挑戰，香港大學教育學院的研究團隊推出了開創性的人工智能中文寫作評估平台「mAI Mind」，旨在提供嶄新的寫作學教經驗。

「mAI Mind」人工智能平台參考了香港中國語文課程架構、文類理論、寫作思維過程理論和全港性系統評估（TSA）的評核準則，目的為協助教師製作內容和程度合適的範文，以方便教學。「mAI Mind」平台可在一分鐘內對學生的各項寫作表現進行全面的反饋評估，包括：內容、結構、句子、詞彙使用、標點符號和整體表現。平台亦將學生使用的詞彙與教育局的《香港小學常用字詞表》進行比較，分析學生的詞彙使用習慣，提高寫後回饋的深度和廣度，並大大減少老師的工作量。

此外，該平台能按老師設定的寫作要求，為學生提供寫作建議和框架，例如提供相關成語、句子、修辭以及引言、正文段落和結論的建議，為他們於寫作構思階段提供支援，有助減輕學生的學習焦慮。「mAI Mind」也為學生的表現提供回饋，為改善寫作提供寶貴的見解。

在過去六個月裏，七所學校成功將「mAI Mind」平台融入其校本的中文寫作課程中，並取得顯著成效，見證了該平台能夠解決寫作教學中的難題，亦為學生提供及時和個性化的寫作建議和反饋，使他們的寫作態度和動機都得到了顯著的改善，從而持續地提高他們的寫作能力。

領導研究及開發團隊的教育學院助理院長（知識交流）羅嘉怡教授表示：「我們很高興看到mAI Mind在如此短的時間內對教師和學生都產生了積極的影響。我們的目標是繼續改進和增加此平台的功能，以賦予教育工作者力量，並激勵學生在中文寫作方面充分發揮潛力。」

保良局黃永樹小學的一位學生表示，平台的回饋幫助他理解到自己在寫作方面的優點和缺點，同時提供了具體的改進建議，提升了他作文的整體結構和美感。來自同一學校的蔡靜欣老師讚揚該平台能提供全面而具體的反饋，具有省時的特點，而且操作簡便。

循理會美林小學中文科主任姜綺雲觀察到，學生在寫作過程中，積極主動地在平台輸入內容並按即時獲得的回饋持續修改作文，充分體現自主學習和自我完善的態度及能力。

「mAI Mind」平台的開發展示了香港大學教育學院致力利用尖端科技來提升教與學體驗的決心。該平台的數據分析系統不但能緩解教師的評改壓力，並同時增強了寫作回饋的重點和深度。透過提供具針對性和有意義的指導，「mAI Mind」正在改變中文寫作的學習和教學格局。

傳媒查詢，請聯絡mAI Mind項目負責人羅嘉怡教授（電話：3917 8399 / 電郵：[javascript protected email address]）或香港大學教育學院高級經理（發展及傳訊）張俊瑜女士（電話：3917 4270 / 電郵：[javascript protected email address]）。

2024年7月25日