Rapid feedback on open-ended questions, in class

Mosscap is a classroom tool for active learning in high school and college courses. An instructor poses an open-ended question during class. Students answer on their phones or laptops. Within seconds each student receives brief, individual feedback and a score against the instructor's own rubric, and the instructor sees a summary of what the class understood and where it struggled, while everyone is still in the room.

How a session works

1. Before class, the instructor writes the questions and rubrics in a plain text file, or in the Mosscap app.
2. In class, the instructor starts a question. Students open their personal link and write an answer. Drafts are saved as they type.
3. When the instructor stops the question, every answer is graded against the rubric by an AI model. Students read their feedback right away; the instructor sees a class summary and leads the discussion from it.

What it is not

Mosscap scores are formative. They guide the student and the instructor during class; they are not course grades. Mosscap does not replace teaching assistants or instructors, and it is not a homework or exam system.

Privacy

Students are identified only by an anonymous link. No names, emails, or identifiers are stored on the Mosscap server or sent to the AI provider. Responses and feedback are kept on the server only for the length of a class session and then deleted; the instructor keeps the results on their own computer.

Status

Mosscap is beta software under active development at the University of Kansas, in use with a small number of instructors. Use is at your own risk. Instructor accounts are created by the administrator; if you teach and would like to try it, get in touch with Daniel Reuman at the University of Kansas.