Flooded with student emails asking questions already answered in the syllabus?

Let Ask Labflow chatbot take that off your plate. It will only reference the documents you choose (e.g. the syllabus, course policies, and institutional policies on plagiarism) - students get quick, accurate answers without adding to your inbox. “Can I turn in my assignment in late?", “when are office hours?”, or “when is my final project due?” It’s like having a front-desk employee who works 24/7. Already a hit with instructors and students alike!

"Ask Labflow employees AI to provide students with instant access to instructor vetted course material and information. Ask Labflow increases course efficiency for both students and instructors while encouraging student curiosity and learning." - Dr. Derek Behmke, Virginia Commonwealth University

Balancing high-level Bloom's questions with the reality of TA grading time?

We all want student to be thinking critically. But grading higher-order responses can quickly drain your TA’s limited time. Labflow helps TAs be as efficient, consistent, and confident as possible. Our clickable rubrics with automatic feedback, auto-graded calculations, and an easy toggle between by-student and by-question grading grading can dramatically increase efficiency and consistency in TA grading. We estimate that our platform cuts grading time by 30% or more, freeing up time and budget for your department. Additionally, with our bulk-grading option, you can group students - for example, those who completed a file upload - and assign grades in a fraction of the time it takes to grade individually.

And now, our AI-assisted grading takes time savings and consistency even further. This isn't a black-box of robotic grading. Our transparent, human-in-the-loop AI-assisted grading streamlines the grading process and can turn even the most novice (or apathetic) of graders into a dedicated grader, with feedback tailored to individual students. This is a completely optional feature, but it is sure to astound you.

“They [TAs] like them [clickable rubrics] a lot in general. That ecology evolution class has a lot of grading, as you can imagine. Having anything that streamlines that is really popular. I don't know if you've talked about the bulk grading option—that is [CHEF’S KISS] - I just love that. That’s some functionality. You can basically go through your whole class in one go, and anyone who has it 100% correct, you just click on it and they all get their points and their feedback in one fell swoop. Instead of grading one at a time and having to do these repeated buttons, you click one button and everyone gets those points and then that takes that time away. And now you can focus on that feedback for the ones that need constructive criticism.” — Dr. Jamie Bunting, CalPoly

“My TAs probably spend a little less time grading now, but it’s simpler for them.” — Dr. Rebecca Newcomer, University of Connecticut

Struggling to keep disengaged students motivated?

Students love flexibility and control over their course outcome. Now you can offer these without creating chaos or risking grade inflation - our new token economy is off and running! Students earn tokens, rather than points, for things like turning assignments in early (!), completing practice assignments, or watching instructional videos (token-earning activities are fully customizable). Tokens can be redeemed for things like extra attempts or due date extensions. Enhancing students’ self-efficacy, and enabling flexibility without the accounting headache. You set the rules and Labflow tracks it all for you.

"Introducing tokens has greatly benefited my students. They are more motivated to engage in class, take initiative in the lab, and, most importantly, they feel empowered and flexible with their homework. Quiz retries have encouraged deeper reflection on the questions, and deadline extensions have decreased stress and significantly reduced late submissions. I am very thankful to have been given the opportunity to introduce this feature, especially since it requires little to no additional workload on my part." - Dr. Roxane Jourdain, Baylor University

Wondering if your TAs are keeping on top of their grading?

You are halfway through your course term, and a student emails to say that they have no idea what their lab grade is - and this is when you find out that there is a TA that has been sitting on their grading. Does this sound familiar, or resonate as a tale of caution? Our Data Insights gives you real-time visibility into who’s grading, how much they’ve done, and where they’re falling behind. With color-coded flags and clear summaries, you can spot issues early - and offer help before it snowballs. TA oversight, without micromanaging.

“This quarter I have 29 TAs across three classes. So it’s a lot. Before Labflow, I would find out that a TA wasn't grading through the grapevine of students that someone finally brought it to my attention. It would be five weeks into the quarter, and that lab section hadn’t had any grading done. And that’s how I would get notified about it. And obviously that’s an emergency. Whereas now I get notified, I can see who’s done what, how much of a section has been graded, and a graphical representation of are they grading relatively fairly, like are we all within 10% of scores. And so from that management side for me, the amount of time I have to spend on that is down to like 10 minutes a quarter versus micromanaging 30 people.” — Dr. Jamie Bunting, CalPoly

Wondering if your TAs are grading fairly?

When every TA grades a little differently, students notice. With large teams of TAs, it is a lot of work to track how consistently the TAs are grading compared to each other. What if we could give that time back to you? Our Data Insights tracks scores by TAs (or sections) throughout the term, enabling informed and timely guidance to TAs who may need to align their grading standards with the rest of the team. We also provide a comparison between auto-graded and hand-graded items, so that you will know if section differences are due to student performance or TA grading.

“This quarter I have 29 TAs across three classes. So it’s a lot. Before Labflow, I would find out that a TA wasn't grading through the grapevine of students that someone finally brought it to my attention. It would be five weeks into the quarter, and that lab section hadn’t had any grading done. And that’s how I would get notified about it. And obviously that’s an emergency. Whereas now I get notified, I can see who’s done what, how much of a section has been graded, and a graphical representation of are they grading relatively fairly, like are we all within 10% of scores. And so from that management side for me, the amount of time I have to spend on that is down to like 10 minutes a quarter versus micromanaging 30 people.” — Dr. Jamie Bunting, CalPoly

Worried if your course may need to pivot online?

Snow, fires, TA illnesses, campus disruptions, strikes - with Labflow, your instruction won't miss a beat. We offer a seamless and instantaneous transition to an online experience using ‘provisional data’, built in to your custom labs that can be turned on with a toggle.

“We have a tentative snow day happening this upcoming week. The provisional data makes it accessible to students. It’s not great that they’re missing the lab, but we give them the data so they can still complete the lab report. It’s so easy to just grant them access. … Before I used to have to create these alternative assignments. And now the virtual data is built in. And the students can’t just click on it. The TAs need to grant them the permission to access it as well. … When there’s incidents, you can give students data that they need. I just love how easy it is.” — Dr. Rebecca Newcomer, University of Connecticut

We use it a lot. Not just for situations that are weather related, but also strikes … that have been very difficult I think for some of my other colleagues. But because I have backup labs with provisional data for every single lab, we have the flexibility and I’m not as impacted should something like that happen. But also if you have so many TAs and so many sections, if one TA is out, and we can’t find anybody to help sub, we can still help out that one section. So it’s not an all or nothing for everybody across all the sections. And that gives us a lot more flexibility to deal with situations as they arise and still give students a reasonably good educational experience.” — Dr. Alice Nguyen, UC Santa Barbara

Headache from trying to set due dates that align with section time?

In an effort to make things fair for our students, we may find ourselves jumping through hoops to make lab assignment due dates varied by section time, or pushing due dates out longer than desirable to accommodate later labs. Labflow’s rule-based due date system automatically applies due dates based on students’ section time It also includes an optional and fully customizable grace-period between “due” and “cut-off”, as well as options for late penalties. And granting an individual extensions takes just a few clicks! Everything is automated so your schedule - and sanity - stay intact.

“The due date, cutoff date system works really well for my students. I have the post lab due before next week’s lab, and that’s the close date. But the ‘cutoff’ date is 48 hours later. So they get a little grace period. I can set a post-lab due date and then give a 48-hour grace period built into that. And that really helps reduce the stress level. They’ll come in and be freaking out that they missed this deadline. Just get it in in the next 48 hours. It’ll be graded as normal. That really helps. I like that system.” — Dr. Jamie Bunting, CalPoly

Wishing you could try Specifications Grading, but without the logistical nightmare?

Have you heard about the benefits of Specifications Grading (lowering student anxiety, emphasis on mastery, faster/more consistent grading, etc) and thought about trying it out but not ready to reinvent the wheel? Labflow now offers Specs Grading, with a simple interface for grading, transparent feedback to students, and integration with the gradebook. Try it in one lab, or across your course!

Frustration over your course material spread over multiple platforms?

Has your creativity gotten the better of you - with course materials spread over multiple locations, based on whether they are quizzes, videos, external links, file uploads, calculation worksheets, etc? When students (and instructors) are juggling platforms, things slip through the cracks. Labflow brings all your material in one place, with clean formatting, and intuitive organization. Fewer logins, fewer headaches, and a smoother experience for you and your students. Everything in one place, finally.

“I would get five or six emails every week—'where do I find this thing?'. But now everything’s on Labflow, broken down week by week, with videos and resources embedded within quizzes.” “It’s all in one spot, which I think has helped the students’ understanding.” “It’s really nice being able to hit all of these different goals with one tool.” — Dr. Jamie Bunting, CalPoly

“The cognitive load has been really reduced, which allows them [students] to be more present. They’re not constantly trying to find materials or wondering where to go. The material is in one place, which is really, really helpful.” — Dr. Alice Nguyen, UC Santa Barbara

Students arriving to lab without opening the lab manual or watching prelab videos?

With Labflow, the students’ prelab experience can be tailored to maximize engagement. For example, you have the option to gate access to later assignments based on previous assignments, say for watching a video or meeting a threshold score on a course policy quiz. We have a growing bank of premade lab-prep videos, or we can embed your favorites. The options are as flexible as your imagination.