An AI Python tutor for a school
Wolsingham School · an AI programming tutor for a one-teacher computing department
Working pro bono, OpenKit built Wolsingham School an AI tutor that coaches students through Python exercises from the school’s own lessons without handing over the answer. The school used it in class with Year 10 and below.
Overview
Wolsingham School in County Durham has one IT teacher and limited access to computing equipment, which makes offering computer science at GCSE something it has to build toward. OpenKit has held enterprise adviser roles there through the regional partnership for years and built CodeKit for the school pro bono. In CodeKit, a student works through Python exercises while an AI tutor reviews what they have written and tells them how to improve it.
In a computing lesson the usual problems are practical, like a machine that will not run the interpreter or a typo the student cannot see, and with one teacher they become the whole lesson. The tutor never writes the solution, because a tool that writes solutions teaches a student to ask it for them.
Year 10 and below
The classes the school used it with, in lessons
DfE bid
CodeKit became the basis of OpenKit’s application, which won the first stage
In the browser
Nothing to install on a school machine
1 teacher
The whole computing department, with limited access to equipment
Approach
What OpenKit built
Python in the browser
A student opens a tab and writes code, with the output next to the editor. There is nothing to install and no version to match, so nobody has to get 30 machines into the same state before the first exercise.
Lessons the school writes
The tutor works from the library of lessons and exercises the school writes and organises by topic and difficulty. Help that contradicts the lesson is worse than no help, so the tutor never invents its own curriculum.
Progress across the class
The mission log shows each student’s progress and the topics the group is stuck on, so a teacher covering everything alone can see where to spend their attention.
Controls
Data controls and certifications
On this project
- Operates to UK GDPR
- UK data residency
OpenKit certifications
- ISO 27001
- ISO 9001, UKAS-accredited
- Cyber Essentials
The school
Lessons and career days
- Lessons taught in person by the people who built the tutor.
- Career days, so students hear what the work looks like from people doing it.
Result
The basis of a Department for Education bid
When the Department for Education opened a competition for AI tools in education, OpenKit already had a tutor built for one subject that reviewed student work and explained itself in language a fourteen-year-old could use. It also answered the question every education buyer asks first, which is whether the tool does the child’s homework for them. CodeKit’s codebase and what OpenKit learned building it became the basis of the application, which won the first stage of the competition.
Other engagements
What could your business do with AI?
Find out with experts who become part of your team. We uncover opportunities, get ideas working, and help your people build on the results. We reply within one working day.
Get in touch AI Engineering