Artificial Intelligence (AI) can enhance education in numerous ways, such as providing personalized learning experiences, automating administrative tasks, improving student engagement, and facilitating data-driven decision-making. By leveraging the power of AI, educators can create more effective and efficient learning environments that better meet the needs of students and support their academic success.
Virtual Teaching Assistance
A common problem in online education is a lack of teacher presence: online students do not necessarily have the kind of access to teachers (and teaching assistants) that face-to-face learners often do. Teachers, especially those who teach large classes, often have to allocate a significant amount of their daily time to answer questions, sometimes similar ones, from different students. How can we enhance teacher presence in online classes while reducing the load on teachers?
Jill Watson is a virtual teaching assistant developed to assist teachers in answering students’ questions anytime, anywhere. It can be easily added to a course site in a learning management system as an LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability) and integrated with the course discussion forum. It automatically responds to questions concerning course syllabus, policies, and schedule. The responses are posted in the forum, efficiently addressing all students who might have the same questions.
Jill Watson LTI
C21U developed and maintains a Learning Tools Interoperability plugin for the Jill Watson Virtual Teaching Assistant.
AI at Georgia Tech
Georgia Tech's research on AI holds significant value in the field of technology and its practical applications. Georgia Tech is well-known for its research contributions in AI, including machine learning, computer vision, and natural language processing. Its AI researchers have significantly contributed to developing advanced algorithms and deep learning techniques applied in various domains, including healthcare, transportation, and finance.
The interdisciplinary approach of Georgia Tech's AI research combines expertise from computer science, engineering, and cognitive science to address complex problems in AI. Additionally, the Institute has developed strong partnerships with industry leaders, such as Google and IBM, to foster collaboration and bring cutting-edge AI research from the lab to practical applications.
The National AI Institute for Adult Learning and Online Education (AI-ALOE) is a research institute funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Accenture through NSF. Led by the Tech, AI-ALOE will develop an AI-based transformative model for online adult learning that can meet this challenge. This model simultaneously uses AI for transforming online adult learning and online adult education to transform AI.