I had a few spare minutes in the morning before Digifest a couple of weeks ago, before breakfast and the conference start, so I wrote a quick LinkedIn post around writing tracking. It clearly resonated judging by the responses, so I thought I’d share it here, and reflect a little on the responses.
My original LinkedIn post
“Turnitin have announced a new AI solution, which essentially tracks exactly how a student is writing. We’ve seen similar approaches proposed before, for example one from Grammarly, and suggestions we just make use of the various tracking and recording features in standard office tools, such as version tracking.
I’m sure these solutions will provide a high degree of transparency, but at what cost? A purely personal take, but I’d absolutely hate it, and it would really affect how I write. I’m not sure if I’m an outlier here, but I really dislike editing any document in Word with ‘track changes’. I know it’s a common way of collaborating, but I write as a way of thinking, with ideas tried, scrapped, altered, etc. This is a private process for me, and if I had to share everything I wrote as I formed by ideas it would completely change what I typed. I’d play it ultra-safe, removing a lot of creativity and experimentation.
On the rare times I do have to work on a tracked document I actually work out my alterations offline, and then put them back on the final document, rendering it useless if you wanted to find out how I arrived at those words.
I’ve mentioned this a few times in presentations, and can see some agreement in the room, so I don’t think I’m alone here, but also, I know it’s not a universal concern, so I’m intrigued by others, thoughts. I guess it might be depending on the subject. For some courses, is it just like showing your sketchbooks in an art subject?”
Some reflections on the comments and feedback
It clearly struck a chord – not just with those who also hate tracked changes (solidarity!), but with a wide community who care deeply about writing, assessment, creativity, and trust.
If you’ve got time, it’s worth browsing through the comments – but a few themes came up again and again:
Writing is personal, messy, and often private
Many people described their writing process as a space for experimentation, discovery, and reflection – something that doesn’t lend itself well to being watched or monitored.
Surveillance changes behaviour
Whether it’s the panopticon effect or just feeling self-conscious, many of us write differently when we know we’re being tracked. And that difference is rarely for the better.
Kate Borthwick shared that some of her students had already seen a version of this tool, and their responses were much the same.
And Nalina Brahim-Said’s comment – “Michael, this feels like creativity under surveillance. Writing thrives on freedom, not constant oversight” – inspired the title of this post.
Better assessment design is the real solution
Rather than focusing on detection, many argued we should assume AI is part of the writing process now – and instead design assessments that value originality, personalisation, criticality, and dialogue.
Scepticism about the tool itself
From practical doubts about how it would even work, to ethical concerns around data, surveillance, and who it’s really for – there’s clear discomfort with the direction this represents.
As Nick McIntosh put it:
“Genuine question: what’s to stop a student with a bit of prompting nous from getting Claude, OpenAI Operator, or [whatever’s next] to game this by introducing thinking pauses, back-tracking, editing, etc.?”
There were also some brilliant analogies – from sketchbooks in art, to the centipede that forgets how to walk when asked to explain itself. And a fair amount of humour too (“pencils and radiant blue pens only” might now be my official stance).
So thanks to everyone who engaged on this. And on a personal level, it was great to fins out I’m not alone in being deeply uncomfortable with all forms of writing tracking.
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