Since its initial release, the Eli Review team has improved the platform through incremental updates, new features, and ongoing feedback from instructors and institutions. But over time, it became clear that small improvements were no longer enough.
This rebuild was not about chasing trends or simply refreshing the interface. It was about creating a stronger foundation for the future of Eli and for the teaching practices that have always been at the center of it.
Why Incremental Improvements Were No Longer Enough
The original version of Eli was built nearly twenty years ago, at a very different moment in both technology and teaching. While the core ideas behind Eli remained as relevant as ever, the platform itself increasingly struggled to support the kinds of learning experiences instructors wanted to create and students now expect.
Some specific challenges reflected changing expectations for software:
- students increasingly working across phones, tablets, and laptops,
- growing accessibility expectations,
- modern expectations around reliability and usability,
- and the need for clearer workflows and participation support.
But the larger challenge was instructional.
As instructors pushed Eli into new teaching contexts and more ambitious learning activities, it became increasingly difficult for the original system to support the full range of practices we believed Eli should enable.
In some cases, instructors requested capabilities the original platform simply could not support well. In others, the limitations were less visible but equally important: the old system made it difficult to support structured reflection, revision planning, evidence gathering, and other teaching practices designed to help students engage more deliberately with feedback and their own learning process.
Eventually, we realized we were no longer just improving Eli. We needed to rebuild the foundation itself.
Expanding What Eli Can Support
The rebuild was ultimately an investment in expanding what instructors can realistically facilitate in their classrooms. That includes supporting:
- richer reflection and revision workflows,
- structured metacognitive learning activities,
- more flexible feedback and review models,
- stronger connections between feedback and revision,
- broader assignment and media types,
- stronger classroom coordination tools,
- and better visibility into participation and learning patterns.
Just as importantly, the rebuild creates more opportunities for instructors to observe and respond to learning as it unfolds. In many classrooms, the most important parts of learning are often difficult to see directly:
- how students interpret feedback,
- what feedback they prioritize,
- where confusion or uncertainty emerges,
- how thinking changes over time,
- and how revision actually happens.
The new Eli is built on a more dynamic, flexible foundation that allows instructors to better observe, support, and respond to learning as it develops over time.
Building Eli for the Next Generation
The rebuild also creates a stronger long-term foundation for Eli itself.
Rather than continuing to patch and extend an aging system, the new version of Eli is designed to:
- evolve more easily over time,
- support a wider range of classroom contexts,
- adapt to changing instructional needs,
- and provide a more reliable experience for both students and instructors.
This work positions Eli to continue growing without losing sight of what made it valuable in the first place.
The Goal Was Never Just a “New Version”
At its core, this rebuild is an investment in human-centered learning.
We believe meaningful learning happens through the metacognitive acts of:
- feedback,
- reflection,
- revision,
- discussion,
- and sustained engagement with other people and ideas.
The new version of Eli Review was built to better support the mission of enabling these methods of learning for the next generation of students, instructors, and institutions.
—
We’ll be sharing much more in the coming weeks, including a new website, updated resources, and deeper looks at the thinking behind the scenes. For now, here are a few places to start:
- Live Now: start using the new Eli Review today
- Accessing Eli Classic: How to continue using the current version of Eli Review
- What’s New: A breakdown of the biggest changes in the new release
- Why We Rebuilt Eli: The story behind the rebuild and why incremental improvements were no longer enough
