Terms of Service for iAWE

Effective Date: June 2026

1. Academic Use and Scope of Service

iAWE (Intelligent Academic Writing Evaluation Assistant) is provided primarily for academic, educational, and non-commercial research purposes, in accordance with the EASE Framework 1.0 methodology. It is designed to assist EAP (English for Academic Purposes) educators, researchers, and learners in evaluating L2 academic writing through a zero-trust, RAG-infused, DDL-anchored pedagogical scaffold, within the Google Workspace environment.

iAWE is a research-grade evaluative prototype designed for pedagogical experimentation and academic transparency, not a commercial replacement for human assessment.

2. Disclaimer of Warranty and Accuracy

The software is provided "as is," without warranty of any kind, express or implied. While the developer strives to maintain the functionality and reliability of the Add-on in line with the EASE Framework's zero-trust principle, no guarantees are made regarding the absolute correctness, completeness, or suitability of the AI-generated writing evaluations, NAWL metrics, Type-Token Ratio calculations, or JSON-anchored feedback scores. Users must verify all outputs against primary sources and bear full responsibility for the data used in their final work.

While analytical accuracy was closely aligned with human judgment in the evaluative study (20 student essays of 300-400 words benchmarked against expert human feedback), learners did not directly interact with the system during that evaluation phase. This constitutes a documented methodological limitation addressed in future Design-Based Research (DBR) iterations.

3. API Usage and External Services

The Add-on relies on external third-party APIs to maintain the EASE Framework's computational trust. Users acknowledge and agree that:

• They are responsible for providing their own API keys for Google Gemini 2.5 (used as the JSON-generation engine) and Semantic Scholar API (used for retrieving scholarly context) and ensuring compliance with the terms of service of those respective providers.
• The developer is not responsible for any costs incurred, service interruptions, or rate limits imposed by these third-party API providers.
• The zero-trust architecture relies on the LLM being restricted to a strict JSON schema and fed only pre-computed empirical evidence. Any modification to this schema by the user may compromise the pedagogical validity of the evaluation.

4. User Conduct and Restrictions

Users agree not to use the Add-on for any purpose that is unlawful, fraudulent, or prohibited by these Terms. Prohibited uses include, but are not limited to:

• Commercial resale of the tool's features or the EASE Framework methodology without explicit written consent from the developer.
• Unauthorized data scraping, batch processing, or any attempt to bypass rate limits imposed by the Add-on or its underlying APIs.
• Using the evaluation outputs as a definitive replacement for human pedagogical assessment in high-stakes contexts (e.g., formal grading, admissions decisions) without expert verification.

5. Intellectual Property and Data Ownership

The core software, code, EASE Framework 1.0 methodology, and iAWE architecture are the exclusive intellectual property of the developer, Dr. Waleed Mandour, and co-author Prof. Anwar Mourssi. The student essays, evaluation reports, DBR telemetry, and any pedagogical artifacts generated by the user using this tool remain the property of the user.

The EASE Framework and iAWE architecture are based on an evaluative study presented at the 4th MEC TESOL Conference, Muscat, Oman (February 2026). Academic citation is required when referencing this work.

6. Modification of Terms

The developer reserves the right to modify these Terms of Service at any time, particularly as the EASE Framework evolves through future Design-Based Research (DBR) iterations. Continued use of the Add-on after any such modification constitutes acceptance of the new Terms.