Plan the learning

AI drafting

Let AI do the writing: a term of your records turned into a few paragraphs, a photo of your child's work turned into a portfolio entry, and — if you allow it — your tutors' notes turned into session reports. It only describes what's really there, and every draft is edited before anything is saved.

What it does

AI drafting is off unless you turn it on. There are two switches, because two different people press the button:

Let AltEd draft from your records — your own AI use:

• Written summaries. When a local authority asks you to describe your child's education in writing, you have all the material — hours, subjects, marked work, photos — but turning it into prose is a job in itself. This drafts that prose from the same record the Reports screen assembles.
• Photos read into evidence. On Portfolio, photograph a worksheet or a model and let AI suggest the title, kind, subject and description.
• Your child's work, read into the log. When your child logs a photo of their work or some notes on their own page, AI reads it straight away — on your credits — and it waits for you with a log entry and the plan topics it covers, to accept or change. You can also Read it with AI when recording progress yourself. See Progress — the tracker.
• Gaps, explained and put in order. On your home page, Gaps and next steps finds what's slipping for free; AI can say why each matters and what to do first.
• Last week, for each learner. On your home page, a short read of each learner's last finished week — sessions, work, marks, the log and their tutors' shared reports — with up to three things worth doing next.

Let your learners' tutors use AI too — your tutors' AI use on your learners:

• Session reports. A tutor you're connected with can jot notes after a session and have AI write them up as a report for you — see Sessions.
• Photos they file. A tutor adding portfolio evidence for your learner can read a photo the same way.
• Marking. A tutor marking work they set your learner can have AI draft the feedback and suggest a score — see Assignments. (When you mark work you set yourself, that runs on your own switch.)

Early warnings. A tutor's home page lists learners who may need attention, without AI. When the tutor asks AI to explain and order them, warnings about your learners are included only if Let your learners' tutors use AI too is on — see The provider's guide.

Practice questions. Whoever sets work can draft practice questions with worked answers from a lesson or a title — see Assignments. Nothing about a learner is sent, so it needs neither switch.

Reading a poster. A tutor can have their own advertising read into classes, their courses and their prices — see Classes. Only the picture and anything they type is sent; nothing about a learner, so it needs neither switch.

Messages. Drafting a reply, and sorting unread conversations by what they need, follow the same two switches: your own when you use them, your tutors' when they use them in a conversation with you — see Messages.

Anyone signed in can also describe a class search in their own words on Find a class — see Classes. It sends only the typed words and the listed subjects, so it needs neither switch.

Tutors and providers can also draft a course from a specification or their own syllabus on Courses & lessons — see Courses and lessons. It sends no learner's details, so it needs neither switch; it runs on their own credits.

The second switch is yours, not the tutor's: a tutor can't turn it on for your learner, and turning on your own AI use doesn't turn it on for them.

Where to find it

• Turn it on: Settings → AI drafts → the AI drafting card
• Summaries: Reports, above the education record (for a provider, Tracking → Reports)
• Photos: Portfolio → Add evidence, once a photo is uploaded
• Last week: your home page (Overview), the Last week section below your learners
• Gaps: your home page, Gaps and next steps
• Session reports (tutors): Sessions → a session's ⋯ menu → Write a report

If you don't see an option, either its switch is off or this AltEd instance has no model configured.

Each use costs AI credits, paid by whoever presses the button: a summary about 1, a photo about 2, a session report about 1, a learner's week about 1, explaining a learner's gaps about 1, drafting the marking for a piece of work about 1, a course draft about 4, a described class search about 1, a reply draft about 1, sorting unread messages about 2, a practice set about 2, reading work into the log about 2, explaining a tutor's early warnings about 1. Checking for gaps is free. The line beside each button — and on the AI drafting card — says how many you have left; see AI credits.

Step by step

Draft a summary

1. Go to Settings → AI drafts and turn on Let AltEd draft from your records.
2. Go to Reports, choose the learner and period.
3. Select Draft a summary.
4. Read it, edit it in the box, and Copy it wherever you need it.

Try again re-drafts from the same records — useful if the wording didn't suit you.

Read each learner's week

1. Go to your home page (Overview). Below Your learners is Last week, with a card for each learner covering the last finished Monday-to-Sunday week.
2. Select Write name's week.
3. Read the headline and the short write-up, then Worth doing next — at most three suggestions, each about something in the records (work still overdue, things your learner recorded that are waiting for you, a missed session).
4. What it was written from lists the facts it was given. Write it again re-writes it (and uses credits again).

It's kept, so coming back to it later costs nothing. A learner with nothing recorded that week isn't written up — you'll see "Nothing was recorded… last week", and nothing is charged. On Monday mornings, the bell tells you when last week is ready to write up; switch that off under Weekly digest in Settings → Notifications.

Find and fix gaps

1. On your home page, under Gaps and next steps, select Check for gaps beside a learner. This is free — no AI, no credits.
2. AltEd lists what it finds:

• Topics behind — topics in one of your curriculum plans for that learner still not done after the week the plan put them in.
• Targets slipping — a tracker target missed more often than met over the last eight weeks.
• Thin or missing evidence — questions from the readiness check the last year's records answer thinly (only once you've started recording).

1. Each has a fix: Set tasks for them adds tracker tasks for the topics behind (up to ten at a time); the others link to the right screen.
2. With AI drafting on, select Explain and put them in order: AI puts the gaps in the order worth tackling and adds a sentence on why each matters and what to do this week. It only works from the gaps AltEd found — it can't add one — and nothing changes until you press a fix.

Let your tutors use AI

1. Go to Settings → AI drafts.
2. Turn on Let your learners' tutors use AI too.

It applies to all your learners and all the tutors you're connected with. When a report was written with AI help, it says so underneath when you read it.

What it will and won't do

It only describes what's there. A summary uses only what you've logged — select What it was written from under any draft to see the exact list of facts. A photo is described from what's visible. A session report uses only the tutor's notes.

It won't pad anything out. A thin term makes a short summary; a two-line note makes a short report. The readiness check exists to tell you when a period is thin, and a summary that glossed over it would defeat the point.

It won't judge. It won't say whether the education is "suitable", won't mark a piece of work from a photo, and won't label or diagnose a child from a tutor's notes.

It won't file anything by itself. Every draft comes back to the person who asked, to edit. A summary is never stored or sent anywhere; a photo's suggestions are saved only when you select Add evidence; a session report reaches you only when the tutor selects Share with the family.

Before you turn it on

Each use sends something to a third-party language model, and only when somebody presses the button:

• A summary sends what you've recorded — subjects, hours, the titles of your evidence.
• A photo sends the photo, your learner's first name, the subjects already in their portfolio and the topic titles of your own curriculum plans for them.
• A session report sends the tutor's notes, your learner's first name and the titles of the tutor's own lessons.
• Drafting the marking sends your learner's first name, the work's title, instructions and maximum, the linked lesson's title and specification topics, the marker's notes and — if they add one — a photo of the work.
• Explaining gaps sends your learner's first name and the gaps AltEd found: plan titles and the topics behind, target names and how often they were met, and the readiness questions with what the records show.
• A learner's week sends your learner's first name and that week's facts: hours logged, sessions booked with their names and whether they were attended, the titles of work finished, marked (with marks) and overdue, the progress log's counts and progress titles, portfolio titles, topics ticked off, and up to four tutors' reports shared with you that week.

Which company that is depends on the AltEd instance you're using: the AI drafting card names it, and so does the privacy policy. On alted.ac it is one of Anthropic or OpenAI, and it never changes without the policy changing with it.

Turning either switch off stops it immediately, and nothing else in AltEd depends on it.

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Tips and good to know

• Always read it. It was written by a language model. It is not a statement from AltEd, and you're the one putting your name to it.
• Draft a summary near the end of a period, once the records are in. A draft is only as good as what it was written from.
• The What it was written from list is a quick way to spot a gap — if a subject you taught isn't there, the work probably wasn't linked to a lesson.
• A clear, close photo in good light reads best. PDFs and iPhone HEIC photos can be uploaded but not read.

Troubleshooting

Related guides

• AI credits
• Reports
• Portfolio
• Sessions
• Local authority readiness
• Settings