Scribe

Overview

Built on Microsoft's Azure OpenAI platform, Scribe provides academic authors with a secure, purpose-built interface for drafting, editing, and refining educational content. Unlike public AI tools such as ChatGPT, Scribe operates within an enterprise grade environment where user data is not used to train AI models, making it safe for handling copyrighted and sensitive institutional materials.

The project responds to the PVC-R&I Challenge: "What are the benefits of using Artificial Intelligence, including Generative AI and Large Language Models in the production of new curriculum?" and aligns with the OU's Growth and Working Smarter strategy, specifically "Faster curriculum conception, production and development."

Scribe has been piloted across two institutional trials (November 2024 – June 2025) involving 10 academic staff from the IET's Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme and two academics from the Faculty of Business and Law developing a new MBA qualification. Evaluation involved mixed-methods analysis combining participant diaries and anonymised prompt logs.

Key Capabilities:

• Draft and structure course content.
• Reword, paraphrase, and summarise existing materials.
• Design assessments (quizzes, activities, case studies).
• Generate learning outcomes aligned to frameworks (e.g., Bloom's taxonomy).
• Create learner personas for learning design.
• Provide iterative refinement through conversational workflows.

The role of IET

IET's specific roles include:

• Technical Development: Custom interface design, integration with Azure OpenAI, infrastructure management, and platform scalability.
• Pedagogical Design: Embedding OU teaching and learning principles, creating pre-configured assistants aligned to curriculum tasks, and ensuring outputs meet institutional quality standards.
• Research & Evaluation: Conducting pilot trials, collecting and analysing user data (diaries and prompt logs), and generating evidence-based recommendations for iterative development.
• Dissemination & Training: Hosting workshops, demonstrations, and dissemination events; providing user guidance and support materials.
• Strategic Leadership: Advocating for responsible AI integration in curriculum development and positioning Scribe within the OU's broader AI infrastructure and governance.

IET continues to manage the project, secure resourcing for ongoing development, and oversee scaling across faculties and beyond.

Impact

Scribe has been piloted across two institutional trials (November 2024 – June 2025) with compelling early results: Average user rating 4.42/5, over 500 prompts generated, 100% would use again.

• Usability: Users consistently rated Scribe as intuitive and easy to navigate, with minimal onboarding required.
• Effectiveness: Strong support for paraphrasing, summarising, and activity design; excellent for overcoming blank-page syndrome.
• Efficiency: Majority of participants reported notable time savings (2–5x improvement for routine tasks).
• Adoption: Scribe has long-term users continued using Scribe for over a year.

Intended Impact:

• Accelerated Curriculum Development: Enable faster course production, and iteration across the OU, reducing time-to-market for new offerings and programmes.
• Enhanced Quality & Consistency: Support pedagogically sound, well-structured curriculum through AI-assisted drafting, assessment design, and learning outcome alignment.
• Equitable Access to Authoring Support: Provide all OU academics with writing and design assistance, regardless of background or expertise.
• Workforce Development: Upskill staff in AI literacy, prompt engineering, and responsible AI use in educational contexts.
• Competitive Institutional Advantage: Position the OU as a leader in responsible, pedagogy-aligned GenAI integration in higher education.
• Data-Informed Improvement: Use learning analytics from Scribe interactions to continuously refine the tool and identify emerging curriculum needs.