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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.
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