From Chatbots to Micro-Behaviors: How AI Maximises Teacher-Student Interactions
Dr Mario Bojilov - MEngsSc, CISA, F Fin, PhD
I work with forward-looking, deep-thinking enterprise leaders to help them harness Artificial Intelligence (AI) and lead profoundly impactful organisations.
Summary
A school teacher can create a virtual "Teacher Aide" in < 10 minutes to help creating tests and assignments.
Introduction
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has exhibited robust growth in the last few years and continues unabated. A recent survey by Mercer[1] shows that 57% of CEOs and CFOs plan to increase AI and automation in case of economic difficulties. At the same time, education and construction are the most heavily impacted sectors, where 75% of CEOs and CFOs are planning staff reductions.
Education is a sector where AI can help enormously by automating some tasks and allowing teachers to spend more time with students. A report[2] by McKinsey & Co. demonstrates that teachers can reallocate up to 13 hours per week by using technology to automate some tasks.
Figure 1 shows the main activities where teachers can reallocate time. The areas with the highest percentage of blue are where most opportunities exist. Examining Figure 1 closely indicates that the three main areas are preparation, evaluation and feedback, and administration. Coincidentally, these are the areas with the most negligible teacher-student interaction. Thus, introducing AI-based solutions will increase teachers' time with their students, providing better learning and growth outcomes.
Various options exist to introduce AI in education and allow teachers to spend time on higher-value activities, such as student coaching or instruction. In this article, I will look at Generative AI and predictive analytics.
Use Case: Generative AI
Generative AI (GAI) or GenAI covers a subset of AI technologies that generate new data or content instead of processing and analysing existing data. The best-known example of GAI is ChatGPT, producing text output. Other examples of GenAI include image creation - DALL-E and Midjourney, and music composition - AIVA.
In education, GenAI can generate lesson plans, quizzes and other assessments and scenarios for students to work on. It must be noted that GenAI is best used to augment teachers' thinking, not replace it. GenAI needs "guidance" and context to be provided by a teacher to offer sound output. It also requires strict quality control since its results can sometimes be questionable.
Figure 2 shows science tests for two different grades created by using GAI. The tests took less than one minute to be made in this form. Without GenAI, this task would take one to several hours, depending on the teacher's experience.
It must be noted that the tests were created by a chatbot specifically focused on helping primary school teachers make them. The "Teacher Aide" chatbot can be accessed using the QR code in Figure 3. It took me less than 10 minutes to develop the chatbot itself. The ease of making such tools provides numerous opportunities to create tools for specific tasks they want to automate in their daily workflows.
领英推荐
Use Case: Predictive Analytics
Predictions are one of AI's strengths. Using large amounts of data, various AI technologies can uncover patterns in them and apply these in future situations.
In our article "Using AI and Big Data to Identify and Predict Student Learning Needs", my co-author Kishore Singh and I looked at using AI to analyse micro-behaviours and use the results to predict the learning needs of individual students. Micro-behaviours are small, unconscious actions that people exhibit, which can provide a guide to their internal thoughts and feelings. For example, the time a student takes to answer a single-question quiz or the number of attempts to answer it correctly when multiple attempts are allowed are micro-behaviours.
Figure 4 shows an extract from DigiKids?, an interactive digital technology curriculum developed by MBS Academy - Digital Skills for the Rest of Us. The dataset contains data for two students - MB and Mik. Two micro-behaviours are recorded: number of attempts and duration. By analysing these across the population of all students from previous years and linking them to their results, an AI system can learn the risk markers for individual students and suggest additional time with the teacher for some of them.
Considerations for Boards
1. Teacher Training and Support: Ensure teachers get the training to use AI tools confidently. Provide ongoing help so they can seamlessly incorporate these tools into their daily teaching routines.
2. Data Privacy and Security: Put in place clear policies to protect student data. Ensure any AI tools are secure and comply with data protection rules to protect students' information.
3. Monitoring and Evaluation: Set up a system to regularly check how well the AI tools work. Gather feedback from teachers and students to tweak and improve the tools as needed for the best learning outcomes.
Conclusion
Artificial Intelligence has the potential to transform education by automating routine tasks and allowing teachers to focus more on student interaction and personalised learning. Generative AI and predictive analytics can significantly improve the efficiency of educational processes and learning outcomes. However, successful integration of these technologies requires careful planning. School boards must ensure AI is used responsibly to support teachers and students.
By prioritising teacher training, safeguarding data privacy, and continuously monitoring the impact of AI tools, schools can maximise the benefits of AI while mitigating risks. The aim is to enhance, not replace, the human element in education. As AI evolves, school boards must stay informed and proactive, embracing innovations that lead to better student learning experiences.
#AIinEducation #EdTech #BoardDirectors
We have developed our "Shaping Success with AI?" (SS:ai?) framework to help Board Directors understand, introduce, and govern AI in their organisations. SS:ai? aims to help Board Directors move from Learner or User to Trailblazer and lead profoundly impactful organisations.
If you're a Board Director introducing AI into your organisation, don't hesitate to get in touch with me for an exploratory discussion. You can reach me at [email protected] or book a 15-minute confidential session directly at https://bit.ly/ai-15min using the QR code below.
References