For the A3 Forecasting project I wanted to focus on something that is pertinent to myself and many other educators; the work, life balance of being an educator. Artificial intelligence is everywhere and will only continue to grow over the years to come so we might as well use it to its fullest potential. For this project, I wanted to utilize AI through a futuristic app called Teach Assist. Teach Assist is a virtual assistant that can help you with tasks such as lesson planning, grading, report card comments, searching, and many more administrator tasks. Check out my website and teach more, plan less! Enjoy!
A3 – Teach Assist: The Virtual Teaching Assistant Teachers Need
16 responses to “A3 – Teach Assist: The Virtual Teaching Assistant Teachers Need”
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From the perspective of a teacher who never seems to have enough time to effectively accomplish all of the necessary teaching tasks in a day, an app like this would seem to be be a God-send. If I could have a device take notes for me during a meeting, draft emails, and help with the other numerous onerous non-teaching tasks, it would leave me more time for what I actually enjoy – planning and delivering lessons.
Google already has the capbility to set up reminders and take simple notes. For example, when I need to add something to the shopping list, I tell Google to add it, and then I can set it up to remind me when I next drive by a store.
However, having a device constantly ‘listening’ and tracking my movements brings up concerns. Aside from the obvious general privacy and security concerns of location tracking, there is also the concern with simple errors and misjudgements on the part of the app. An example that comes to mind is when Amazon’s Alexa recorded a conversation and then accidentally sent it to a random contact. You can check out the story here…
https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/woman-says-her-amazon-device-recorded-private-conversation-sent-it-out-to-random-contact/755507974/
If this happens where sensitive information about a student is wrongly shared, there could be serious ramifications. I imagine that as technology and algorithms improve, the chances of this happening will lesson, but then other concerns could also pop up.
In theory, I would love an app like this, but serious parameters and safety measures would need to be implemented in order to make it useable in an education setting.
Hi Kylie,
When looking at your website, I realized that a lot of my teacher stress came from organizational tasks and last minute changes! I think that your app would be great especially for primary grades, where the students are less independent and unable to pick up forgotten photocopies. I’m wondering if your app would also be useful in suggesting student jobs. Perhaps the AI could pinpoint the level of difficulty of each teacher task and choose to delegate some to student volunteers. Another idea for your app is for it to serve as a body break reminder. Perhaps a the teacher could enter the energy level of the room when prompted and then Teach Assist could choose an exercise resource, turn on the projector, etc. There really is countless ways that this app could help teachers and prevent the teacher exodus!
One question I have is do you think that this app might increase screen fatigue in teachers?
Jen
The idea of Teach Assist is excellent. It could go a long way in cutting down the set-up, organizational, and administrative time that teachers have to spend every day, and in turn contribute to better quality of teaching, with teachers able to focus their energies on the actual teaching. As a Music and French teacher in an elementary school, I normally see a different class every half hour, so if Teach Assist were to help me reset my space between classes, it would save me so much time and energy. Keeping track of student needs is another huge challenge that Teach Assist has so much potential to help with in my situation. I can see this being a game-changer for most teachers, and I hope to experience it in reality some day soon!
Hi Wendy,
I am on the same exact page as you. Both of us being Music and French teachers, every half hour our expectations and needs are changing. I am one who likes to keep notes on any sort of incident, positive or negative. I can’t always jot it down in my day book right away because of how busy the specialist classroom is. You can ask Teach Assist – or it’s AI “Alphonso” – to go back to when the incident happened to document. Or if a student spoke French well, or played recorder well, you have that moment documented and uploaded to their portfolio.
With up to 30 kids per class it’s very difficult to be able to check on everyone. You have the lesson time, and then independent or group work. With a 30 minute block that is not enough time. What would be neat is a location based alert when you enter a class (or knows the schedule for when a class enters your own room) and Teach Assist gives a reminder “Be sure to check on Sally D during independent work; here’s an adapted activity for her differentiated learning. I’ve made sure to block cat videos on YouTube so that she stays on task.” Or, Teach Assist can make a note to you saying, “Sally D stayed on task, but Jaden F did not complete his work.”
Also, when it comes to report cards, Teach Assist could take marks and comments from Google Classroom, Excel, or Numbers, and automatically put it into a report card template for each student.
I think there is so much potential for classroom management, your workflow when not instructing, and keeping on top of students, especially those with IEPs. Teach Assist can take care of those nitty gritty tasks.
Hi Kylie! Your website is beautiful, well-laid out, easy to navigate and easy to use. I used it on my mobile phone and it works great! Your rationale for a virtual assistant is excellent and your presentation about challenges of teaching and teacher burnout is right on target. Kudos to you on this one! Your “Rationale” and “Functions” sections are excellent and I understand that the section “How it Works” is an imagined solution.
Your forecast for a virtual teaching assistant as an artificial intelligent (AI) system caught my attention immediately as my contribution to our knowledge mill is also on intelligent agents https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec523/2020/07/02/smartphones-intelligent-agents-and-mobile-learning-nudging-the-student-to-make-better-choices/ and my A3 forecasting project https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec523/2020/08/02/transformation-of-my-practice-to-teaching-while-students-have-their-smartphones-in-their-hands/ is also about a virtual teaching assistant. The differences are that reminders and nudging, and communication between the student, teacher and parents is the focus of the abilities of my virtual teaching assistant whereas as I understand it, your virtual teaching assistant has a “Remind” function plus “Create”, “Recommend”, “Differentiate”, “Lights, Camera, Action”, “Suggest”, “Print and Photocopy” and “Assessment”. Therefore your virtual assistant is very ambitious and I would say, in a humorous manner, more qualified and can do much more and perform many more tasks. Your statement is “virtual assistant that can help you with tasks such as lesson planning, grading, report card comments, searching, and many more administrator tasks” and catchphrase is “teach more, plan less” whereas mine would be “teach more, classroom management less”. Personally, my belief is that as a teacher I would need to do planning, what I need less of is classroom management and dealing with smartphone distraction in the classroom. I am not sure if I would want to give up my planning to a virtual assistant or if a virtual assistant is capable of doing my planning, however I agree with you in that there are so many ways an AI virtual assistant can help a busy teacher today.
Overall, a great project and beautiful website!
Hi Ram,
Thanks for your feedback. I too agree I wouldn’t want to give up all my planning, but I sure wouldn’t mind some suggestions on articles, videos, sites, and things like that to add to my lesson to enhance it. As far as the distraction to mobile devices in the class, I did run into this when I was teaching middle school grades, but in elementary schools (or mine at least) students were not allowed to have their devices out or even on the school grounds all day. It was a great rule. But yes, in high school that is inevitable…they always have them! I checked out your website… I really like the nudge theory to help them back on track! I also liked the section about “When Siri Grows up”. It will be interesting to see what Siri will look like in 5 years from now. Honestly, I think adults sometimes need the nudge system too, prioritizing schedules, and helping transition tasks as well. Thanks for sharing your website links!
Hi Kylie,
What a useful app that could be! I appreciate that you included a wide variety of features that cover many uses. In a lot of ways it sounds like a dream come true!
One concern we might have in my district is in regards to devices and privacy. As teachers we are not allowed to store student information on our personal devices (ex: no photos of students on personal cell phones, no report card info in google drive, no communicating about students via text messages). An app like this, based on all the functions, would require teachers using it to have a district provided cell phone or to be very very mindful about what they use it for.
Hi Megan,
You bring up a great point. Privacy is something that I thought of, but hadn’t come up with a solution just yet. Perhaps I would need to implement Carla’s A3 forecasting project combined with mine to keep the data safe. Check out her website: https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec523/2020/08/02/a3-the-data-safety-initiative/
Hi Kylie,
I love the concept and can see how this system can enhance everyone’s work! I am not a teacher but I relate to what you mention about teacher burnout so much! It is difficult to focus on what’s important when there are many other things that require our attention. I remember when I first started out in advising, the extra time I had to spend on typing out notes after my meeting with each student was what I found to be frustrating. It is even more challenging when I have a full day with student appointments. I could only dream a system that would instantly taking notes during my conversation with students.
I like how you use technology not just for work efficiency but also to strive for a better work-life balance. I guess the only concern with the use of Teach Assist is similar to the use of other personal assistant devices and that is on privacy. However, this will be another topic to consider. I can see how this AI system will help educators to focus on what’s important, like you said, “Teach more, Plan less”!
Hi Pei,
Thanks for your feedback. Privacy is an issue that I definitely thought of, but hadn’t come up with a solution. I mentioned above that Carla, for her A3 Forecasting project, focused on this. Perhaps Teach Assist and The Data Safety Initiative should combine. Check out her website: https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec523/2020/08/02/a3-the-data-safety-initiative/
As for note taking, how great would it be if it could take the important notes down for you! That would definitely save time and probably be faster than humans too. I also forget that last word that was spoken when taking notes, so perhaps a virtual personal assistant could be the answer!
First off, I think your phrase, “Teach More, Plan Less” would automatically make it a top seller for teachers. However, as I continued to look at your site, it just kept getting better and better for teachers. Your functions page is well organized and detailed. As I went through the different functions I couldn’t help but see the different parts that could have helped me out in the past. Such as forgetting to buy an essential ingredient to make Nanaimo Bars in foods class, which the “Remind” function would have fixed. I think something like this would also be great for those tech resistant teachers, as this would really make their jobs easier. I also like that you touched on the burnout that teachers experience and how many leave the profession, this was something I never realized until I got into teaching. Even with having a stepdad as a teacher and mom as a Educational Assistant I never realized the amount of energy that went into teaching. I really do hope to see this in the future!
Hi Michael,
Thanks for all your feedback. The phrase just came to me as I was developing Teach Assist and it seemed to fit perfectly. Yes, how many times have we all forgot that one ingredient for the perfect lesson and have to dash out at lunch time. Worry no longer with Teach Assist! As far as the burnout rate, I remember hearing this several times in university, and now that I am in the profession I have definitely contemplated other professions for sure. Teaching is an exhausting job at times, however the rewards seem to pay off!
This resource was well put together and full of appropriate and current information. Teach Assist sounds like a great way to help keep the learning, planning, etc., all in one place and allow for easy access. I can see how this would be beneficial to supporting the teacher in having everything ready and reduce the time for all the extra planning. This would go a long way to supporting teachers with what they need right away instead of having to wait until an appropriate time to investigate resources such as the example you brought up on additional ways to teach fractions. At first, I was thinking that this might be overwhelming and that the teacher would need time to investigate the resources to see if they were appropriate. However, after going through everything, I see that you addressed that with the AI and algorithms adjusting to the preferences and criteria set up by the teacher. There are so many things on a teachers’ plate these days and I can see how Teach Assist would go a long way to support the teacher which of course will help the students in your class.
Hi Meipsy,
Thanks so much for your review. You do bring up a good point, there would definitely be a learning curve learning this new technology, but that is like any new device, app, platform you are learning. But I believe this would be time well spent because in the long run it would save you a lot of time. As you learn the app, the app learns you and provides you with accurate, relevant, and valuable resources, tools, and more. Teach more, plan less!
As an educator, my biggest complaint is the time constraints that I am challenged with each day. Teach Assist would be such a useful tool to support teachers like me by saving us a lot of time and stress. When I walk into the classroom each morning, there are a ton of housekeeping items that need to be done prior to the start of the day. It can be quite overwhelming to prepare materials in such a short time. Likewise, at the end of each school day, creating and differentiating lessons takes hours of time and effort. Students in the classroom have many different needs and so the task of differentiating lessons can be quite exhausting. Additionally, teaching is such a flexible process: last minute changes to lessons are often required. It’s great that Teach Assist recommends websites, videos, and lesson plans to help educators find the perfect resources. I am also fond of the “Lights, Camera, Action” feature of this platform. I think that lighting sets the tone of the classroom and so I’m often finding myself adjusting the lighting throughout the day. It would be nice to have an on command button for this task. Thanks for sharing such a strong potential future application with us!
Thanks for your review Ravneet. We sound like we are on similar pages with the time-consuming factors of our careers. I agree with the morning routine. It takes me around 15 minutes to set up all my morning routines that are almost exactly the same every day. Also, good call on the flexible process of teaching and the frequent changes in schedules. I often have ideas in my mind for those last-minute time fillers but when the time comes, I forget. It would be awesome if Teach Assist was able to remind you of those ideas when the time presents itself. I feel that there is a lot of potential for an app like this as AI is so becoming more prevalent in our society every day.