Skip to main content
EdSphere
Menu

Product

Do the task. Document it. Defend it. Validate it.

EdSphere turns one written assignment into a practical task and runs it from design to a permanent record. Each step below follows one example: instead of an essay on product photography, a student photographs a mug for an online shop, critiques the photos on video, and explains in audio whether the listing is ready. The same steps work for any practical task.

Pilot it with usWalk through the steps

Step 01Instructor

Design

Design the task from your own course.

  • Start from what you teach. Upload a Canvas course export (Common Cartridge), or describe your course in a chat and attach your materials.
  • Choose what to assess. From a course export, EdSphere finds the learning objectives and marks each as found in your course, with the quote, or inferred.
  • Describe the task in a sentence or two. It proposes three to six checkpoints, a rubric, and the defense settings.
  • Edit anything, then publish. Invite students by email; each gets a private link.

Target time: About 10 minutes, once

Proposed task · Draft

A two-photo shop listing: photograph, critique, defend

Replaces: a written essay on product photography principles.

  1. 1Hero photoPhoto
  2. 2Detail photoPhoto
  3. 3Critique of both photosVideo, 30–60 s
  4. 4Decision and one limitationAudio, 25–60 s
Rubric: 4 criteriaDefense: 4 questionsVoice or text

Step 02Student

Do & document

Capture the evidence while the work happens.

  • Open the link on their own phone. No app and no account; it works in iPhone Safari and Android Chrome.
  • Capture each checkpoint during the task. A photo, a video up to 90 seconds, or a voice note up to two minutes, each with a sentence on what they’re doing and why.
  • Count it only once it’s safe. A checkpoint is done only when the upload is confirmed, so the student always knows what has arrived.

Target time: Under 6 minutes, during the task

Hero photograph: a sage green mug in a three-quarter view, the whole handle visible, on a plain cream background.

Checkpoint 1 · Hero photo

10:14

“Three-quarter hero: the full mug and handle are visible against a quiet background, with space around the outline.”

Uploaded

Detail photograph: the same mug from above, showing the cream interior, the rim, and the handle.

Checkpoint 2 · Detail photo

10:21

“The top view adds the cream interior and rim. Sage exterior, cream lining, and loop handle match the hero.”

Uploaded

Checkpoint 3 · Photo critique

0:38

“I would test a slightly tighter crop while keeping the full handle and the grounding shadow.”

Uploaded

Checkpoint 4 · Decision, in audio

0:30

Transcript: “The photographs cannot establish the mug’s capacity or whether it is dishwasher safe. My next check is to measure the actual mug…”

Step 03Student

Defend

Explain the decisions they actually made.

  • Answer questions drawn from their own evidence. Three or four of them, which only someone who did the work can answer well.
  • Answer by voice or text, as the instructor sets it, on the same link and the same day. Voice answers are transcribed and labeled as such.
  • Sit beside the evidence. The instructor reviews each answer next to the checkpoints it asks about.

Target time: About 10 minutes, same day

Defense · Question 2 of 4

The student's detail photograph, which the question asks about.

Asked about: Checkpoint 2, detail photo

“What new information does your detail photo add, and what shows it is the same mug?”

Voice answer, transcribed: “The top view reveals the cream interior and rim beyond the hero’s overall shape. Both views share the sage exterior, cream lining, rounded body, and loop handle.”

Step 04Instructor

Validate

Judge evidence, not prose.

  • See the evidence first. One page per student: photos, videos, notes, and defense answers, criterion by criterion.
  • Check the draft, then decide. An AI draft for each criterion cites the evidence it relies on. Every citation is checked against the student’s actual evidence before you see it.
  • Make the call: Agree or Change level. Nothing is pre-selected, and points stay hidden until every criterion is judged.
  • Save, and the next student opens.

Target time: About 4 minutes per student

Criterion · Useful detail and consistent identity

AI draft (advice only)

Exceeds. The detail adds the interior and rim, and four visible features match the hero.

Hero photoDetail photoAnswer 2

AgreeChange level

Nothing is pre-selected. The instructor decides.

Step 05Automatic

Record

Keep what they showed, for good.

  • Write a permanent record on save. The level for each criterion, the linked objectives, evidence counts, and who validated it and when.
  • Lock it. Nobody can change a record once it’s written.
  • Share it with the people it belongs to. Students see their record on the same link; instructors see it in the roster and export results as CSV for the gradebook.

Target time: Automatic

Record

Can’t be changed
Hero photograph in the record.Detail photograph in the record.
Outcome
Show useful detail with consistent product identity
Level
Exceeds
Evidence
2 photos · 1 video · 1 recording · 4 defense answers
Validated by
The course instructor, with date and time

These times are our estimates. Our pilots will measure the real numbers.

Example submission from a fictional student. Photos and voice were generated for this example.

Enforced in the software

The rules the AI follows.

The AI organises, drafts, and asks questions. A qualified person makes every grading decision. These rules are built into the software, not just written in a policy.

  1. 01

    It never assigns a grade.

    It drafts, and a person decides every criterion.

  2. 02

    It never invents a rubric level.

    It uses only the instructor’s rubric, exactly as written.

  3. 03

    It never cites evidence that isn’t there.

    Every citation is checked against the student’s actual evidence before the draft is shown.

  4. 04

    It never pre-selects an answer.

    Agreeing takes the same click as disagreeing, and points stay hidden until every criterion is judged.

  5. 05

    It never posts a result on its own.

    A result is posted only when the instructor saves, and the record can’t be changed afterwards.

Honest scope

What the first version doesn’t do yet.

We’d rather tell you now. Pilot partners help us decide what to build first.

  • Grade sync with your LMS (CSV export instead)
  • Printed slips or QR codes
  • Analytics dashboards
  • Department or multi-instructor roles
  • Public share links for records
  • Native apps, and languages other than English

Questions

What educators ask first.

Does the AI grade students?
No. It drafts a level for each criterion and cites the evidence behind it. The instructor decides every criterion, and nothing is posted until they save.
Do students need an app or an account?
No. Each student gets a private link by email and opens it in their phone’s browser. The same link holds their capture, their defense, and their record.
Which systems does it work with?
Today you can start from a Canvas course export (Common Cartridge) or from a conversation about your course with your materials attached. Results export as CSV for your gradebook.
What kinds of tasks fit?
Any task where the doing can be seen or heard: a pitch in business, a repair in engineering, a user test in design, a client interview in law, a clinical skill in medicine. If a phone camera or microphone can capture it, it fits.
How is student data protected?
Media is kept in private storage, location data is stripped from photos, and student work is used only for the assessment it was captured for. EdSphere is designed with FERPA in mind.
What does it cost?
While we pilot, nothing. We’re asking pilot partners for their time and honest feedback instead.

See it on one of your assignments.

Pick one written assignment you’d like to replace with a practical task. We’ll set it up with you, for free, and measure together whether it works.

Apply to pilotWhy we’re building this