How can teachers take a human-centred approach to AI?
Join educational researcher Nina Alonso for this podcast series as she shares powerful stories from teachers around the world, talking in their own words about their own experiences.
How can AI adjust learning materials and feedback to the needs of individual students? How can teachers make sure that the human element is kept?
In this episode, Nina speaks to Inge Molenaar, director of the National Education Lab AI in the Netherlands (NOLAI). Inge is a Professor in Behavioral Science who specialises in the interface between education and technology. Inge tells Nina how AI can help to personalise students’ learning. “The technology is being used to adjust the learning materials, and the instruction, and the feedback to the needs of individual students.”
But AI is doing more than just building students’ knowledge, it’s also developing their self-regulation and motivation. Inge explains that AI is teaching students “new ways to monitor and control their learning”. Dashboards give students information about their own learning, and tools give them agency to make their own choices.
Nina also speaks to Cecilia Aguilera Campos, a teacher in Spain. Cecilia uses robotics to support her teaching in different subjects with primary school children. “I teach programming, 3D design, 3D printing, virtual reality, augmented reality”, Cecilia says. She doesn’t teach robotics on its own, it’s always alongside other areas of education such as maths or music.
Next Nina meets Zarqaish Sheharyar, a science teacher working with secondary school students in Pakistan. Zarqaish uses AI to help her be more efficient in her own work. Zarqaish turns to ChatGPT “when I don’t have time enough to plan my lessons or design the questions”. She also guides her students to use it. “They can use the ideas given to them by the AI and then translate it into their own words, based on their own understanding.” Zarqaish finds it convenient but it can be challenging if students rely on AI to answer questions rather than using their notes or books.
Finally, Nina hears from Yvette Larsson, a teacher in Sweden. Yvette has important conversations about the use of AI tools with her middle school learners. She also uses AI herself. For Yvette, ChatGPT is “like a brainstorm friend” for teachers who can be stressed with lots of admin to do. Yvette thinks ChatGPT can make teacher life a little easier. “What am I, as a teacher, going to put my energy and focus on?”
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Listen out for
- Showing students their own learning trajectories over time.
- Developing AI that responds to teachers’ and students’ concerns.
- Being human in a global age of technology.
Find out more on BOLD
Is AI the answer to better feedback for teachers? In our guest podcast Ed-Technical, hosts Libby Hills and Owen Henkel speak to Dora Demszky, Assistant Professor in Education Data Science at Stanford University, about the potential and limitations of using large language models.
The 21st century skills students need to thrive – In an episode of Teachers’ Voices, Nina speaks to Goren Gordon, a researcher studying how social robots could promote curiosity in children.
Giving children agency in an era of artificial intelligence – Sanna Järvelä, Inge Molenaar, and Susanne de Mooij argue that children should be active participants when learning and living with AI.
How teaching methods and tools can improve mathematics learning – In an episode of Teachers’ Voices, Nina hears about digital resources for mathematics teachers.
Guests and resources
Inge Molenaar
LinkedIn
Twitter
National Education Lab AI (NOLAI)
Journal article: Towards hybrid human-AI learning technologies
Jacobs Foundation
Cecilia Aguilera Campos
LinkedIn
Zarqaish Sheharyar
LinkedIn
Facebook
Yvette Larsson
LinkedIn
Twitter
Blog
AHA! Accelerating Education
Author
