ArtificialIntelligenceinEducation

Schoolteacherscouldbenefitfromtheassistanceofartificialintelligenceinclassrooms,accordingto
ErskineVisitingFellowProfessorBenedictduBoulay.

ProfessorduBoulay,whowasrecentlyhostedbyCanterburyUniversitysComputerScienceandSoftware
Engineeringdepartmentforfourmonths,isanexpertinartificialintelligenceineducationfromSussex
University,UnitedKingdom.

Artificialintelligencecouldbeahugehelptoteachersintheclassroom.Idontseeafuturewherewe
havereplacedteacherswithcomputersbutIthinktherearetimeswhenateacheristryingtodivide
attentionbetweenalotofkidsandspeciallydesignedcomputerprogrammescanhelpfillthatgap,he
says.

ProfessorduBoulaysayscomputerprogrammesthataredesignedwithanimatedfacesandaudiocan
helpchildrenoradultssolveproblemswhilelearning.

Theprogrammesaregoodformaths,science,computerscience,biologyandchemistry.Theprogramme
mightknowalotaboutsolvingaparticularmathsproblemsoitwatchesoverthestudentwhiletheygo
throughthevariousstepstoworkitout.Itmaynotsayanythinguntilananswerhasbeensubmittedorif
youstarttogoofftrackatanearlystageitcansay,Idontthinkthatsquiteright,tryagain.Butit
dependswhatsbuiltintothesystem,hesays.

ProfessorduBoulay,whohasworkedonthetechnologywithprimaryschoolchildrentoradiologists
analysingneuronradiologyonMRIscans,saysartificialintelligenceoffersmoreresourcesinclassrooms.

Themainbenefitisitprovidesthepossibilityofoffloadingsomeofthepressureonteachers.Itshard
forasingleteacherdoingaclassonalgebratohelpeverykidastheyaresolvingproblems.Theycan
collectanswersandmarkitlaterbutnotinrealtime.Oneofthewaysthetechnologyisusefulisthata
childorseveralchildrencanworkwiththesystemanditcommentswhiletheyaredoingsomething,he
says.

Anotherareawheretechnologycanhelpistherearetimeswhereyoumightwanttogetthechildor
studenttounderstandthingsbutyoucanteasilydoitwithoutasimulation.Youcouldimagineasystem
teachingpeopleabouttheweatherthatcanrunsimulationsofweatherpatternsandinvitestudentsto
predictwhatsgoingtohappen.Itsamoreinteractivewayofeducation.

WhileatCanterburyUniversity,ProfessorduBoulayworkedcloselywithProfessorAntonijaMitrovic
(ComputerScienceandSoftwareEngineering).

Thereisasystemroutinelyusedinthedepartmentforlearningaboutaccessingdatabases.Thissystem
wasproducedbyProfessorMitrovicandmanyvariantsofthissystemwerebuiltbyherandherstudents.I
havebeeninterestedintalkingtoProfessorMitrovicaboutavariantthatkeepsalogofwhatthestudents
havebeendoing,butthislogwouldgobackoverseveralsessions.Iminterestedintheemotionaland
affectedsideoflearningasmuchasthecognitiveside.Sothishistoricallogcouldassistthesystemto
commentonhowthingswentinaprevioussession.ProfessorMitrovichasdonealotofworkinthisarea
andthatwasabigpartinmecominghere.

Formoreinformationpleasecontact:

communications@canterbury.ac.nz