Beanstack has announced the addition of “Reading Engagement Insights” to its Book Talk with Benny feature. The solution was initially designed to use fun conversations with Benny the Bean, an AI-powered teacher’s assistant, to detect potentially dishonest logging of a student’s reading. Now, Book Talks with Benny will engage students in meaningful, open-ended conversations while providing valuable insight into whether the student has had a positive reading experience.
When launching a reading challenge, teachers and librarians will have the option to choose whether Benny appears to students after they’ve completed a book. Instead of a quiz-based approach, Benny will ask questions specifically designed to gauge reading engagement.
The conversation might begin with: “Would you recommend this book to a friend?” Benny will then differentiate the conversation based on the student’s response, while also exploring specific details about the book. The goal is to provide teachers and librarians with valuable insights into whether students are truly connecting with what they read, while making post-reading reflection fun and personal.
Within Beanstack, teachers and librarians will be provided with new Reading Engagement Insights ranging from green to red. The history of each book talk will be available for their rostered students, including an analysis of positive and negative flags. This information allows educators to better determine where to focus their time, evaluate each conversation, and deepen how they engage the student in reading.
Felix Lloyd, CEO of Beanstack, shares, “Since launching Book Talks with Benny as part of our Reading Integrity Suite, the response has far surpassed our expectations. We have heard from students that they want more opportunities to chat with Benny. And we’ve heard from educators that they want Benny to do much more than focus on cheating. With Reading Engagement Insights, we’re continuing to innovate while remaining dedicated to the ethical guidelines we committed to in our AI responsibility statement.”
Book Talks with Benny continues to be part of Beanstack’s Reading Integrity Suite. Reading Engagement Insights are now available for all schools and districts with Premium Beanstack plans that have opted in to use this feature.
To learn more, visit: www.beanstack.com.
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