Immersive Learning
(Two Speculative futures on media, education, text, and technology in the next 30 years)
How We Play
This week’s readings made me think about how we, as educators, prepare students with essential employable skills by effectively guiding them in acquiring the necessary twenty-first-century skills (technology-engagement). However, I was alarmed by the comment made by the New London Group (NLG), which notes that the instructional strategies teachers use are not reaching the students’ diverse needs and interests in their desire to learn. Therefore, how effective are we at guiding skills in using diverse modes of communication using technologies such as the internet, multimedia, and digital media; these diverse modes of communication are what NLG refers to as multiliteracy diversity (Cazden, Cope, Kalantzis, Luke, Luke, Nakata, & New London Group, 1996). They also mention that the mission of education is “to ensure that all students benefit from learning in ways that allow them to fully participate in public, community, and economic life” (Cazden et al., 1996, p. 60). How can we use artificial intelligence in education?
How about using artificial intelligence as a personal tutor for each student. Students will download the app as part of the orientation package when commencing their program. The tutor will record algorithms as it continues to communicate and assist the student in their learning. It means the student will be lost as class sizes get bigger. This tutor can also assist the student when presenting. For example, Greg is presenting to the class and forgets how to pronounce the integumentary system because he is so nervous and suffers from extreme anxiety. Greg can highlight the word, and the tutor can read it out for him.
Another aspect to explore is cyberbullying in higher education which does exist. What artificial intelligence can do in this matter is provide students with Virtual Online Assistant (VOA) that can coach students when they are posting on social media sites. VOA will connect to the students’ social media sites for the duration of the semester. Here is an example of what VOA can do:
For example:
Doug (student) does not like their English communications teacher because of the policies and assignments they must complete for the course. So Doug posts, “Mrs. Ford is an awful teacher and does not know what she is talking about. #boring”
VOA: Doug, the words you have used are insulting and a form of bullying. The teacher can file a compliant under the Student Code of Conduct as it states "…" Are you willing to take the consequences and here they are"..."
Doug Post: I have the right to post what I feel I am not calling the teacher names.
VOA: There are severe consequences for posting this about your teacher. You may not like your teacher's teaching methods, but the place to provide feedback is in the class survey.
VOA also provides Doug with a list of comments made about professors and the consequences of this cyberbullying. Doug is shocked by what can happen if he posts what he thought was his right to do.
References
Bashir Shaikh, F., Rehman, M., & Amin, A. (2020). Cyberbullying: A systematic literature review to identify the factors impelling university students towards cyberbullying. IEEE Access, 8, 148031-148051. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2020.3015669
Cazden, C., Cope, B., Kalantzis, M., Luke, A., Luke, C., Nakata, M., & New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60-92. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.66.1.17370n67v22j160u
Jang, E. (2021, November 2). Viewpoint: Can ai tutors help students learn? eSchool News. Retrieved November 29, 2021, from https://www.eschoolnews.com/2021/11/10/viewpoint-can-ai-tutors-help-students-learn/.
