What is Defence Mode, and why use it?
Students submit their assignment to Thinking Mode, then defend their ideas in an automated 1:1 interview. You get evidence of what each student actually understands.
In Defence Mode, each student uploads the assignment they are handing in, then has a conversation with an AI tutor about it. The tutor asks specific questions about the ideas and vocabulary in that student’s own work, and the student has to explain them. You get a transcript of every conversation.
The rationale for Defence Mode
Defence Mode is designed to give you evidence of understanding. Students can still research and write their assignment at home, without supervision. Then, in class and ideally on the day the work is due, each student explains the ideas, concepts and vocabulary in what they submitted. The transcript shows what they genuinely understand.
It is not an AI detector, and it doesn’t try to catch AI use. It shows you whether a student can explain their own work.
For more evidence, link it to a Draft Mode task. Students write a draft under supervision first, and the Defence Mode conversation then focuses on what they added afterwards. See How do linked Draft and Defence Mode tasks work?
Setting up a Defence Mode task
Create a task and choose Defence mode.
In Task design, click Upload Assignment Task Sheet to pull the details from your task sheet, or click Design Task and enter the assignment overview, expectations and criteria yourself. These details are also used to check that each student’s upload matches the task.
In Student Instructions, check the PDF. A task sheet you uploaded in Task design is attached here for students as the instructions PDF. If it holds a marking guide you don’t want students to see, click Remove under PDF attachment.
In Customisation, the tutor asks 7 questions unless you change it. Turn on I want to customise this task to set the number, or add a Question focus for areas you want the tutor to probe.
In Preview task, you can try the conversation first, using a mock sample or a sample assignment you upload.
In Finalise, Secure mode and Reject off-topic uploads are both on by default. While Reject off-topic uploads is on, a file that doesn’t match the task is blocked and the student has to replace it. Turn it off to warn them instead.
How students upload their document
Students upload their document to the Thinking Mode platform, on the same page where they start the task. They don’t need an account. Before the lesson, ask them to save the final version of their assignment on their device as a PDF, Word (.docx) or plain text (.txt) file. Anything else, such as a Google Doc or an older Word .doc file, needs saving in one of those formats first.
The student enters the task’s access code, or opens your student link, then types their first name.
Under Upload your assignment, they drag their file into the box, or click the box and choose the file.
The upload starts straight away. A checklist shows the file being uploaded, read, checked for personal information, matched against the task and prepared.
When Document processed appears, they can click Review assignment text to see exactly what the AI will read, then click Start task.
Start task can’t be clicked until the upload has been accepted. The upload happens before the secure session begins, so choosing a file won’t lock a student out.
If an upload doesn’t go through
The file is too large. The student is asked for a smaller one.
The file has to contain text. A scanned page, or a photo saved as a PDF, can’t be read, and the student is asked to try a different file.
If the document contains personal details, such as a phone number or a street address, the student is warned. They can remove the details and upload the file again, or choose Continue anyway.
The student sees “Waiting for your teacher”. The work covers mature subject matter, such as war or crime, and the task doesn’t allow it yet. The file is saved, and the student carries on without uploading again once you allow it from the banner on the task page. See Can a task include mature or sensitive content?
The student is told the document can’t be used for this task. Our check found a wellbeing concern in it. This can’t be overridden, so the student needs to upload a different file or talk to you.
If your school network blocks the upload, Thinking Mode reads the text from the file on the student’s device instead, so they can usually still start. The file itself isn’t saved, so there is nothing to download, and their student page shows File not saved — extracted text used. If the file can’t be read on the device either, the student is told the school network looks like it is blocking file uploads. Ask your IT team to allow the domains on the Allow list.
Good to know
Open a student from the task page to read the document they uploaded, or click Download submission for the original file.
A long assignment is condensed into an AI summary before the conversation. The student’s page then shows AI summary of document in place of their text, and the downloaded file is still their original.
If a student in a linked Draft and Defence pair missed the draft, turn on Allow entry without a draft on the Defence task’s page so they can start without one.
Secure mode works within the limits of what a web browser allows, so a student can still be locked out by something outside the task, such as a notification or a browser extension. See Tips to avoid students being locked out and A student is locked out. How do I let them back in?
Still stuck? Contact us.