Academic integrity for the AI era | Word · Google Docs

See how the essay
was written.

Sennel records how each essay is written, in Word or Google Docs, and seals that record to the submitted file. You get the replay, the passages worth a look, and a decision you can stand behind. Work students wrote themselves clears in a glance. Work that arrived from somewhere else shows itself.

One course, your rules for consent and retention. We set it up with you.

Essay 2 · Photography and the painter's eye1,180 wordsSealed 11:42 PM

When photography arrived, critics predicted the end of painting. Instead, painters stopped competing with the camera on likeness and turned to what the lens could not do: the impression of light, the feeling of a moment, the visible hand.

Daguerre's announcement of 1839 was received in Paris as both a marvel and a threat. Paul Delaroche is often quoted as declaring that from that day painting was dead, though the attribution is doubtful; what is certain is that within a decade the portrait miniaturists had largely lost their trade to the studio photographer, and that the Salon juries of the 1850s were still arguing over whether a photograph could be admitted as art at all.

¶ 2 · 412 words arrived at 10:05 PM · unchanged in final

What survived was not the craft of likeness but the reasons for looking. A portrait could now be had in minutes; a painting had to justify its hours, and the justification became the subject.

Replay7:10 PM – 11:42 PM · 4 h 32 min61 revisions
break · 22 min412 words · 0.8 s7:10 PM9:26 PM11:42 PM
composedrevisedarrived from outsideno observation
  • ReviewExternal arrival in paragraph 2412 words · unchanged in final · outside accepted quotationOpen passage →
  • OrdinaryEverything else was composed in session768 words · 61 revisions · 4 h 10 min activeReplay →
Your decision is recorded with the evidence behind it.

Illustrative record. Sennel shows what it observed and where it could not, and leaves the decision to you.

§ 01The problem

The essay alone can't tell you.

A finished essay used to be evidence of the work behind it. Generated prose changed that. A score guessed from the text leaves you arguing with a number. A record of the writing gives you something to look at, show a student, and take to a committee.

When photography arrived, critics predicted the end of painting. Instead, painters stopped competing with the camera on likeness and turned to what the lens could not do: the impression of light, the feeling of a moment, the visible hand. The new machine did not replace the painter's eye. It clarified what the eye had been for.

8:04 PM8:42 PM
OrdinaryComposed · 38 min · 14 revisions

When photography arrived, critics predicted the end of painting. Instead, painters stopped competing with the camera on likeness and turned to what the lens could not do: the impression of light, the feeling of a moment, the visible hand. The new machine did not replace the painter's eye. It clarified what the eye had been for.

68 words · 0.8 s8:04 PM8:42 PM
ReviewArrived · 0.8 s · unchanged

Illustrative. Sennel reports the arrival and whether it survived to the final text. What it means is your call.

§ 02How it works

A record instead of a guess.

Three steps, in the tools your students already use.

  1. Step 1

    ENGL 102 · Essay 2

    Ready when you are.

    Opens in Word · due Friday 11:59 PM

    Start a paper

    Students pick the assignment and write in Word or Google Docs, the tools they already use, so there is nothing new to learn.

  2. Step 2
    7:10 PM7:52 PM
    Recording · 42 min · saved

    Write as usual

    Sennel keeps a running record of the document as it grows: what was typed, what was revised, what arrived from outside, and when.

  3. Step 3

    Receipt

    Essay 2 is in.

    essay-2.docx · 1,180 words · 11:42 PMSealed to its record

    Submit

    The exact file is sealed to its record. Students get a receipt. You get the replay and any passages worth a look.

§ 03What you see

Ordinary work clears in a glance.

Your class arrives sorted by what needs attention. Most rows need none. The few that do come with the passage, the moment, and the reason.

ENGL 102 · Essay 224 submitted2 need a look
StudentSubmittedStateReasonAction
A. OkaforTue 11:42 PMReviewExternal arrival, ¶ 2, 412 words unchanged
J. LindqvistTue 9:03 PMOrdinaryComposed in session · 3 h 10 min
M. ReyesTue 10:51 PMOrdinaryComposed in session · 2 h 24 min
S. PatelWed 12:07 AMNo observation38 min unobserved · ¶ 4 affected
R. NakamuraTue 8:15 PMOrdinaryComposed in session · 4 h 02 min
T. BrennanTue 11:58 PMOrdinaryComposed over two sessions

Illustrative docket. Names and times are examples.

§ 04Evidence

Evidence you can stand behind.

Findings point at exact passages and exact moments, so what you tell a student, or a committee, is something they can see too.

Exact passages, exact moments

A finding names the paragraph, the time it arrived, and whether it survived to the final draft.

Observation, then interpretation

What Sennel saw is shown separately from what it makes of it, so a student or a committee can see the same thing you do.

Gaps are visible

Where the record has a gap, you see the gap, its length, and the text it affects.

Deterrence built in

Students know their writing has a record. Shortcuts get harder, and honest work gets an advocate.

Programs and integrity offices

Every decision comes with its evidence, so an appeal turns on a record instead of a score.

§ 05Students

Built for a classroom.

One button. Write as usual. A receipt when it's in. Honest work gets a record that speaks for it.

What is recorded. The assignment document during the writing session: what was typed, revised, and pasted, and when. Everything else on a student's computer stays theirs.

What students get. Their own copy of the exact file they submitted, and a receipt that says it is in.

Your rules. Consent and retention follow your institution's policy, agreed before the first assignment.

What students see  ·  Privacy, in plain language

Submission receiptEssay 2

Your essay is in.

Course
ENGL 102
Assignment
Essay 2
File
essay-2.docx · 1,180 words
Submitted
Tuesday 11:42 PM
Sealed to its record

Illustrative receipt.

§ 06Next step

Bring it to one course this term.

A pilot is one course and one assignment cycle, on your rules for consent and retention. We set it up with you and your academic-technology staff. Start with a 20-minute walkthrough on a real essay, or go straight to the pilot.

  • A walkthrough is a 20-minute call on a real essay. Bring your questions.
  • Setup happens with your academic-technology staff. Students install a small companion; you get the docket.
  • One assignment cycle: students write as usual, you review.
  • Then we look at what the record showed, together.
What would you like?
We reply personally. Your details stay with us.