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There was a moment in popular culture when the vision for a the future included a teacher who looked a lot less human. In the 1960s cartoon \u201cThe Jetsons,\u201d children\u00a0attend classes taught by a purple and blue humanoid computer program, Ms. Brainmocker. That idea has resurfaced several times in the decades since\u00a0\u2014\u00a0often as a monster-in-the-closet for teachers, but occasionally as an aide.<\/p>\n
In some ways, it seems Ms. Brainmocker\u2019s moment may be on the verge of arriving. Last week, Knewton announced the creation of an artificial intelligence program that automatically delivers content to students based on how they learn. Similar programs have begun to spring up, offering\u00a0ways to automate at least some of the practices of a teacher. But as the market grows, the focus seems to be less on all-out\u00a0replacements like Ms. Brainmocker and more on the blackboard, the books, and the homework she assigns. In short, many of the so-called \u201csmart\u201d\u00a0technologies are intended to aid, not replace, teachers (at least in the U.S.). But making sure they do will require examining exactly how they fit into\u00a0schools.<\/p>\n
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Companies like Knewton, Amplify, and McGraw-Hill have all made efforts\u00a0to parse out the complex computer mechanics behind devising a system that delivers content suited to each individual student.<\/p>\n
They seem to be succeeding. In April, McGraw-Hill released its ALEKS program<\/a>, which is supposed to accurately determine what students know and give them information like a personal tutor would.\u00a0Knewton\u2019ssimilar announcement<\/a>\u00a0last week came\u00a0with a twist, as its\u00a0AI will\u00a0be available for free to\u00a0all teachers and include all kinds of content, not just paid curriculum from publishing houses. That means teachers will be able to create their own material and access content created by other teachers.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a vast pool of content out there,\u201d said Knewton COO David Liu. \u201cIt\u2019s been largely disparate, hard to get to, hard to find. We\u2019re personalizing that content. We believe there\u2019s high quality open ed content. We\u2019re trying to bring it to everybody who\u2019d want it for free.\u201d<\/p>\n Rather than replacing the essential work of the teacher \u2014 which Liu says is the time teachers spend hands-on with students \u2014 Knewton\u2019s AI is intended to be a time saver and a support. Teachers won\u2019t have to rely on trial and error when it comes to delivering\u00a0content to\u00a0struggling students or write pop quizzes if they worry their students aren\u2019t grasping the material. They\u2019ll be able to use Knewton\u2019s interface to quickly check student progress and assign material that will work for each student\u2019s particular needs.<\/p>\n \u201cAccess to content doesn\u2019t equal great learning,\u201d said Liu. \u201cIt requires this engine that gets you what you need right when you need it.\u201d<\/p>\n But there are some things to be cautious of, as well. Amplify struggled to make its own personalized learning product\u00a0work\u00a0\u2014\u00a0though that may be because the company\u00a0insisted on delivering its\u00a0own curriculum through the engine via its own troubled\u00a0devices.<\/p>\n Still, given the nature of how at least Knewton\u2019s AI works, early adopters will likely see some changes to the system. The robot tutor learns what works and what doesn\u2019t as more students use it. \u201cThe system will, over time, learn what the right piece of content is,\u201d said Liu. \u201cAs more students use it, the system continues to get progressively better.\u201d<\/p>\n Knewton has been developing the software for years and has been using similar models to deliver publishers\u2019 content as well.<\/p>\n The biggest question of all centers around\u00a0the overall novelty of adaptive learning and the technology to support it. None of these programs have existed long enough to be vetted or\u00a0to build up a body of research on whether they work as well or better than existing systems for boosting student learning. Research on how they work best in classrooms is still spotty, as well.<\/p>\n For teachers and administrators, many of these new systems will require a willingness to ride out a learning period and figure out what works themselves.<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.capoliticalreview.com\/capoliticalnewsandviews\/future-of-education-internet-and-artificial-intelligence-personalized-learning\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There was a moment in popular culture when the vision for a the future included a teacher who looked a lot less human. In the 1960s cartoon \u201cThe Jetsons,\u201d children\u00a0attend classes taught by a purple and blue humanoid computer program, Ms. Brainmocker. That idea has resurfaced several times in the decades since\u00a0\u2014\u00a0often as a monster-in-the-closet … Continue reading The rise of AI-driven personalized learning raises new questions for educators<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aireligion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aireligion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aireligion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aireligion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aireligion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=111"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/aireligion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112,"href":"https:\/\/aireligion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111\/revisions\/112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aireligion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aireligion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aireligion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}