How it works
A record instead of a guess.
Sennel gives you two things you can inspect together: the exact file a student submitted, and the record of how it was written. Here is what happens between "start paper" and your decision.
In the tools students already use.
- Step 1
ENGL 102 · Essay 2
Ready when you are.
Opens in Word · due Friday 11:59 PMStart 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.
- Step 2Recording · 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.
- Step 3
Receipt
Essay 2 is in.
essay-2.docx · 1,180 words · 11:42 PMSealed to its recordSubmit
The exact file is sealed to its record. Students get a receipt. You get the replay and any passages worth a look.
What the record holds.
A running record of the assignment document, kept while the student writes.
- Text
Typed text and revisions
Every edit, in order, with its time. The replay is built from these, so you can scrub the document as it was written.
- Time
Sessions and pauses
When writing started, stopped, and resumed, so you can see how the work was spread across an evening or a week.
- Arrivals
Text that arrived from outside
Pasted text, and text that appeared faster than anyone types, recorded with its time and size, and followed through to the final draft.
- Gaps
Gaps, shown as gaps
Where recording was interrupted, the record shows the gap, its length, and the text it affects.
Submit and seal.
At submission, the exact file is sealed to its record: the bytes the student handed in are the bytes bound to the writing history. Students get a receipt and keep their own copy.
The seal means the essay you grade and the record you review are the same object. If a file is edited after submission, it no longer matches its seal, and you can see that.
Students see the receipt. The record itself goes to you.
Your essay is in.
- Course
- ENGL 102
- Assignment
- Essay 2
- File
- essay-2.docx · 1,180 words
- Submitted
- Tuesday 11:42 PM
Illustrative receipt.
From docket to decision.
The docket sorts your class by what needs attention. A brief is one page per submission. The replay shows the essay taking shape. Your decision is recorded with the evidence behind it.
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 finalWhat 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.
- 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 →
Illustrative record. Sennel shows what it observed and where it could not, and leaves the decision to you.
What a finding looks like.
A finding names a passage and a moment. The example above shows the two kinds you will see most.
Review: external arrival
Paragraph 2, 412 words, arrived in 0.8 seconds at 10:05 PM and survived unchanged to the final draft. The brief shows the passage, the moment in the replay, and whether it sits inside accepted quotation.
Ordinary: composed in session
The rest of the essay was written and revised across the evening, 61 revisions over 4 hours and 10 minutes of active writing. It clears with one action.
Common questions.
Which editors are supported?
Microsoft Word and Google Docs, through a small desktop companion plus the Word add-in or the Google Docs extension. Students keep the editor they already use.
Does it need an internet connection while writing?
The record is kept on the student's computer while they write and delivered when a connection is available, so a dropped connection is a pause, and the record continues.
How does it fit with our LMS?
Sennel runs alongside your LMS. Students start and submit their paper in Sennel and receive a receipt; you review in Sennel and grade where you already grade.
What do students see?
One button to start a paper, a submit action, and a receipt with their own copy of the exact file. The review brief and replay are for you.
Can we start with a single assignment?
Yes. A pilot is one course and one assignment cycle, on your rules for consent and retention.
See it on a real essay.
Twenty minutes, on a call, with your questions.