Using AI in Teaching and Learning Beyond ChatGPT and AI Tutors

Purpose & objective

The main purpose of this presentation is to help educators think beyond ChatGPT, AI tutors, lesson plan makers, and other common AI learning platforms that provide analytics.

Amidst the recent wave of excitement surrounding artificial intelligence (AI), it's undeniable that the realm of education has been overflowing with discussions about the potential of AI to transform teaching and learning. And at the forefront of these conversations have been advancements like ChatGPT and AI tutors, which have garnered substantial attention for their capabilities in aiding educational processes. However, there are many more unexplored ways AI can enhance student learning in the physical classroom and/or online classroom. This presentation aims to unravel a diverse array of applications of AI that extend far beyond the commonly discussed chatbots and tutoring systems, such as AI-generated videos and AI-avatars, as well as suggest ways AI can continue to support learning, especially to advance learning that meets the diverse learning, cultural, and social-emotional needs of individual students.

Participants will learn about the cognitive processes that happen in learning to gain a deeper understanding of the learning sciences, and will also learn how different methods of using AI can support their teaching practice and student learning. They will not only walk away with a list of AI tools they can use right away, but also with an understanding of how I (cognitive scientist) hypothesize AI can really empower learning and its potential to bridge educational gaps, democratize access to quality education globally, and facilitate a more inclusive and efficient learning ecosystem.

Outline

1) 5 min Introduction
- Introduction of AI tools commonly used in the classroom today

2) 15 min discussion on AI Avatars:
- how I used to use avatars in AR and VR apps I made in the past for students with autism, or adult stutter patients.
- the theory on how avatars help learning (social agency theory, social presence theory etc.)
- how much AI technology has advanced, how hyper-realistic avatars look today
- how avatars are helping in supporting learning for students with autism
- the potential I see in AI avatars to transform learning for students with autism

3) 15 min discussion on AI-generated videos
- how easy it is to make an AI-generated video
- how teachers can use AI-generated videos in their classroom
- how students can make AI-generated videos for their learning or even for assessment

4) 5 min discussion on my research
- how I am currently investigating AI avatars, and AI-generated videos in my doctoral research

4) 5 min Q&A

Supporting research

Bewersdorff, A., Zhai, X., Roberts, J., & Nerdel, C. (2023). Myths, mis- and preconceptions of Artificial Intelligence: A review of the literature. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 4, 100143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2023.100143

Kellems, R. O., Charlton, C. T., Black, B., Bussey, H., Ferguson, R., Gonçalves, B. F., Jensen, M., & Vallejo, S. (2023). Social Engagement of Elementary-Aged Children With Autism Live Animation Avatar Versus Human Interaction. Journal of Special Education Technology, 38(3), 327–339. https://doi.org/10.1177/01626434221094792

Kellems, R. O., Charlton, C., Kversøy, K. S., & Győri, M. (2020). Exploring the Use of Virtual Characters (Avatars), Live Animation, and Augmented Reality to Teach Social Skills to Individuals with Autism. Multimodal Technologies and Interaction, 4(3), 48–. https://doi.org/10.3390/mti4030048

Leiker, D., Gyllen, A. R., Eldesouky, I., & Cukurova, M. (2023a). Generative AI for learning: Investigating the potential of learning videos with Synthetic Virtual Instructors. Artificial Intelligence in Education. Posters and Late Breaking Results, Workshops and Tutorials, Industry and Innovation Tracks, Practitioners, Doctoral Consortium and Blue Sky, 523–529. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36336-8_81

Pataranutaporn, P., Danry, V., Leong, J., Punpongsanon, P., Novy, D., Maes, P., & Sra, M. (2021). Ai-generated characters for supporting personalized learning and well-being. Nature Machine Intelligence, 3(12), 1013–1022. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42256-021-00417-9