I’m fascinated by the space where the digital portfolio, digital personal assistant and adaptive learning meet. If you watch any of the Iron Man movies and listen to Tony Stark’s artificially intelligent assistant Jarvis, you can clearly see the potential for an assistant that you can speak to naturally, can synthesize and prioritize massive amounts of information, and is truly mobile (even in the Iron Man suit!). While Jarvis was great help in making Tony Stark a success, I’m interested in exploring what it might look like if educators and learners had access to a platform capable of something similar.
I invite you to join me on an exploration of the possibilities of the Adaptive Learning Coach!
I’ve embedded audio recordings within each section as you go along should you prefer listening to reading. I’ve also included a playlist of all of the recordings here for your convenience.
I applaud the vision and potential that the OER on adaptive learning demonstrates. It is well thought out and very though provoking. There are two larger hurdle to the wide spread use of adaptive learning that are not discussed though:
1. Curated Content: One quick trip through a set of google search results will show that there is a lot of cruft out there and that content search and categorization algorithms can produce results that are sometimes less than optimal and in the worst outright misleading. Time and effort needs to be taken by someone, publishers, OER curator, teachers, and anyone with expertise to curate, tag, and codify bodies of knowledge so that they can be found and properly mapped to the learning outcome desired by a particular instructor. There have been many attempts to standardize learning outcomes but these standard taxonomies are outdated almost at the moment of publishing. So the curation and tagging needs to be sufficiently clear and generic to be found by anyone or algorithm and then needs to have some trusted source identifier. No small job.
2. F.U.D.: FUD is an acronym for Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. Teachers, especially K-6, feel (and rightly so) that they are the guardians of their students learning experience and if there is any element of mistrust or that their students may be being exploited, they quickly step in. For adaptive platforms, the concerns around data mining and exploitation, content promotion, and profiting on a captive audience are all sentiments and challenges hard to overcome in a profession with typically low techno-literacy.
Matt;
I really appreciated your use of different modalities in presenting your material. I often find at the end of a working day, I feel device fatigue, and I don’t engage well with reading large amounts of text. Listening to you explain allowed me to take a bit of a break which allowed me to engage more deeply.
I think your concept here is great, and you gave us a fantastic entry point in the Tony Stark reference.
I remember reading an article about an educational company that offers a personalised, online learning pathway based on student need much in the way you described, although it was limited to use on a computer.
I couldn’t seem to get your site to open, and the play list has only three tracks on it. I suspect this is due to my late engagement, and not because those links didn’t work before. I would have liked to hear more about how an app like this would work as it seems as though it would be a great way to support a more personalised approach to arts learning! I’ll pick your brain about it!
Suzzie
Hi Matt,
I found your A3 project very interesting and have been checking it out for the past week. Not only did you get me with quoting Tony Stark, as I am a big fan, but also for the potential of the learning coach. As a teacher who loves the use of technology and uses it constantly to try to collaborate with others in the education of my students, I would love to start with a centralized and efficient data system for the students. Like you said in the story start the year knowing so much more about the student learning journey and especially the key aspects. You mentioned a few apps that use adaptive learning, but I Axonify was new to me. The description of how the Adaptive learning coach works, reminds me of what I was envisioning for my own project, to have AI curate the learning resources for the student based on interests, yours goes a bit further than mine. I really would hope that in the future both educators and students can have access to software like the one you describe. I appreciate all the challenges and risks that you mentioned, and the one issue that speaks to me the most is the issue of bias and the increase in the digital divide. I can see how educational systems such as the one in Canada would invest in technology like this at some point, just like now boards have gone through smartboards and now chromebooks. In other parts of the world, it would be less equitable to access this type of software, nonetheless, eventually everything becomes mainstream, the important thing is to start having this type of technology available.
Hi Matt,
You built such a full site. I really enjoyed how you had so many learning paths – text, images and audio. I ate my breakfast to your relaxing voice!
I was brought into to your forecast, through the very real story of getting to know your students.
An adaptive learning coach is something I can see in the future. Tools you shared like Khan Academy are being used for education and Siri and Alexa are already paving the way for a conversational AI helper.
The space which I am most concerned with is the bias these platforms can have. Like what you said, “Aritificial intelligence systems are only as good as the data they are trained on” as well as the people who programmed them. If we are heavily relying on AI systems to provide education, it could have deep biases, some that may not even be recognizable at first.
Hi Adrian,
I’m so pleased to hear it was soothing enough that I was welcomed to your breakfast table!
You’re quite right to be concerned about that bias, and I think it’s important to realize that algorithms are already shaping and influencing our perspective on the world around us in many subtle ways. We will need to develop an established means of evaluating this bias and constant work to identify and mitigate biases where possible, this certainly isn’t the kind of challenge you can solve once and be done with. Perhaps one advantage of a bias introduced by a computer system is that it can be adjusted, while often the biases presented by humans (such as those controlling major news conglomerates) are more difficulty to change or even become aware of?
Hi Matt,
It’s your reference to Jarvis that first peaked my interest (I’m a big Marvel fan), but the detailed description of the functionalities and uses of The adaptive learning Coach fascinated me. What a great idea. The further I dove into your project, the more I can see the potential, especially for our special ed students who require a personalized approached, based on data collected by previous teachers, observations and testing. For every K-12 student that is identified as a student with special needs (in the Ontario public school system), the special education teacher has to go through a very thorough process that leads to the creation of a personalized learning plan for the student. I saw The Adaptative Learning Coach as a potential “right hand man” for the special education teacher as it would provide him or her with all the data and information needed and could even assist with the creation of personalized learning plans. It could even help keep track of the student’s progress in regard to the learning and behavioral goals that are set out in the plan.
I appreciated that you discussed the potential challenges of such a tool, like privacy, data ownership, bias, influencing futures and the digital divide. I completely agree with you when you say “Often, the learners with the most need for personalized coaching and support are those with the least means to acquire it.” Since this type of technology is innovative and would collect and access large amounts of data, have you considered the type of connection it would require? Could it run on LTE? Would it require a 5G network connection? If the last one is correct, there will be a greater potential for increasing the Digital Divide.
Excellent work on your forecast. I enjoyed having the option to read or listen (I did both at different times). The format was mobile friendly and easy to navigate.
Hi Veronique,
I’m glad to hear that having the option for both formats supported you, and I really appreciate your professional perspective which you’ve shared. I agree that this would be a powerful tool for teachers to support students with special educational needs. I wonder if in addition to helping keep the focus on the plan, teachers could also be offered insight/reminders of how the student they are working with interacts with their learning. In addition to the thorough process of creating personalized learning plans, in my experience no-one starts as an expert in all forms of special needs (can you ever be!) and the job requires considerable and constant training and reflection. One important aspect of supporting others in their learning is empathizing with their unique needs and perspective, perhaps this could be a way to help bridge that gap? It could also provide insight into a situation, based on an identification of a student’s needs that the teacher may not have considered, or further depth to their understanding of the student’s needs.
Yes, I do believe this tool has significant potential for increasing the Digital Divide. Looking at the current state of technology, it is feasible that large portions of the “intelligence” offered could be processed directly on the device itself, and significant portions of the data could also be kept locally on the device with sufficient storage. As each interaction with the coach is fairly lightweight, a conversation, an insight, a connection to other learning, it would not in itself require more than what current mobile networks could offer in most cases. With that said, to have access to a device that is capable of doing all of that processing locally would be a privilege, and if you didn’t, then you would be relying on cloud computing which would incur a cost both in terms of responsiveness and data consumption.
When considering the important aspect of introducing a Digital Divide, I feel that this would ultimately need to be viewed as a public service, perhaps an included service as part of schooling or libraries, otherwise it will only benefit those who have the means to access it.
You mentioned “bite size” in one of your tracks and that to me was also speaking of the short little clips you presented. I enjoyed that aspect – it made going back to find specific ideas really easy.
I really liked the anecdote right off the bat of the relationships developed over a school year and how everything is back to square one the following year. That’s a problem for sure and I appreciate your working toward correcting that. Adaptive learning could for sure be a way forward on that front. And the “guide on the side” model you spoke of later in the podcast is something I strive for myself in my own practice. “The adaptive learning coach serves as a supportive tool for exploration and a means of better organizing and interpreting learning across varied domains and periods of time” (Wise, 2020). I liked that a lot. And again, it’s what I look to do in my classroom. I could totally see adaptive learning as a way to better tailor my practice to my different students.
Hi Tyler,
Glad to hear that it made reviewing easier. As this is such a broad and ambitious projection I can’t help but I do wonder what small part of the functionality would make a good starting point for teachers, or perhaps already exists? I think good integration/systemization of some kinds of digital portfolio such as Seesaw could perhaps serve as a starting point by having students curate and gather their own artefacts from the year and sharing a bit about themselves to their new teacher.
Hi Matt,
I enjoyed your forecast! I found the option of either reading or listening fantastic. I used the podcasts instead of reading and it felt easier and faster.
I’m not a teacher, but I can imagine how beneficial something like an Adaptive Learning Coach would be. It gives educators a point to start from. You’re right, I’m sure it takes a while to get to know a student and what their needs are. This can shorten this curve.
You’ve successfully discussed the challenges and risks. I have a few more I would throw in (some along the same lines of what you mentioned). There is always worry about the validity of previous comments left in a student file, but I agree it can be helpful if used fairly. I also think that there may be a fine line between “I have information here that will help me know what type of activities you prefer” and “I already know everything I need to know about you.” In other words, being used correctly and not a replacement for building meaningful relationships and getting to know the student, but an aid.
I also love the idea that students have a say in the kind of information that is kept here. This will give the student a voice in their own learning. I do believe that we need to be careful about placing students in a box and I mention that here because I think that students can inadvertently do that to themselves too based on what they’ve been told about who they are. So, it would be important for this information to be kept up to date to ensure the information that lies therein is current and valid. Students develop and change and so should be information being held.
Excellent work!
Hi Natalie,
Very glad to hear that. I feel the same way about the option for audio, particularly on mobile devices so I’m glad that was helpful for you.
I think you raise an interesting and very valid concern about educators, as we do seem to have a tendency to try to simplify complex human behaviours and personalities into something we can more easily understand and communicate, to the detriment of the individual involved. I hadn’t considered the risk of the coach actually influencing the learner’s own self-image and esteem and the way they view themselves. That would certainly need to be something carefully accounted for. I suspect learners are already getting a lot of messaging from adults and experiences that they use to develop a sense of who they are and what they are “good at” but this tool would appear to have the potential to focus that and have a disproportionately loud voice.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
Hi Matt! I liked your forecast immediately when you talked about digital portfolio meets digital personal assistant and adaptive learning. My area of interest is also digital personal assistant meets adaptive learning so my first thoughts were “Wow! This is so similar to what I think about!”. Then you talked about “nudging” which is what my A2 project in the knowledge mill is about and that caught my attention and interest also. The concept of an educator as a facilitator of learning as opposed to being a sage on stage also resonates with me. I like the embedded audio that goes with the text. I can see how this would be useful on a mobile device and it is a good idea.
Your description of the uses of The Adaptive Learning Coach for mobile learning, curated learning evidence and as a navigator is on target on its use as a learning coach. So the possible applications as Learner’s Advocate, Guide on the Side and Learning Activator is good. It is interesting that you also bring in active learning, another important concept in teaching and learning.
It may be implicit but I am left to assume that The Adaptive Learning Coach follows the learner year after year? Your presentation did not say this explicitly. If so, what happens when the learner moves to High School? Or from High School to University? Or would someone have a different Learning Coach for different stages of growth? Your description of what is a Learning Coach is very ambitious but I am aware that the project is about forecasting something that does not exist but could.
Overall Matt a great project. I love it because so many things resonate with me. Excellent work!
Hi Ram,
Thank you for such positive feedback, and I was very happy to hear it resonated so much with you, and I think there is a lot of shared background ideas with what you shared in your OER as well. I realized that while I read and enjoyed your OER I didn’t post!
To use the terminology you shared in your OER, the Adaptive Learning Coach would certainly be described as an intelligent software agent. I envision this agent being something that anyone is able to use at virtually any stage of their lives. While we still have the concepts of different levels of school at the moment, I’m not convinced we will in the future. The Learning Coach would be something you could use for specific periods of your life should you choose, but I see it more broadly as an agent focused on supporting your learning. Some additional thoughts I had were that with younger learners the main “user” of the Learning Coach would be a parent, teacher, or other facilitator as they would not be interacting directly with the learner taking on more ownership and independence over time. The Learning Coach could also present with a different persona/interface based on the age and stage of the user, and I’m certain there is research related to robotics that looks at the impact of a robot/agent’s visual/auditory persona on how humans treat it.
A core focus is that I envision it being owned by the learner, and ultimately in service to improving the learner’s capacity to learn, be that through connections with community, improving learning skills, or providing greater insight about the learner to those who are trying to support them in their journey. I agree that this is an ambitious concept, and may not be fully realized for a decade or more yet, but the pieces are certainly coming together..
Hi Matt,
You make a good point, I concur, in the future it may well be that we will have more of the concept of life-long learner as opposed to grades or year of study.
Thanks,
Ram.
Hi Matt. I found it is an exciting topic. You unfold it in carefully organized steps. I have a couple of thoughts I want to share if you are interested too.
(1) Having an adaptive learning coach will be a standard someday because the width and depth of knowledge are rapidly increasing every day. The knowledge explosion causes the difficulty of finding and involving in the correct knowledge. An adaptive learning coach can be a solution.
(2) Firstly, I thought a coach is a person. However, when I read about the risks of AI, I realized that it is an application. How can a program guide a human to learn about human knowledge is going to be a very interesting topic. I am thinking of Matrix the movie now!
(3) Teachers can be a student’s adaptive learning coaches. Meanwhile, just like what was revealed in the narrative, teachers cannot provide a life-long coach.
(4) Similar to (2), I am thinking of the political and commercial capital influence in such a kind of knowledge. Based on what disciplines this software guides me to access resource A, not B? Because A can make more profit, or is it politically closer? How can I make sure the algorithm behind the AI is reliable and trustworthy?
It is an eye-opening topic. I enjoy it very much. I hope these rough thoughts can initiate more discussions. Thank you again.
Yi
Hi Yi,
Thank you and I’m glad you enjoyed it. In keeping with the concept of AI and technology as a form of human augmentation, I agree that this kind of tool is inevitable. I probably could have made it a little clearer from the start that this is a tool and not an actual person!
I think your use of the term “knowledge explosion” is a good one, and highlights the need for support in focusing and distilling the information we access. Also as you mention, the big risk (and already a big risk in terms of news media, social media) is that the filter being used is not shared with you. Who gets to see Google’s algorithm for prioritizing search results, or Facebook’s for the feed, actually is there even a way it can be communicated that a human could understand it at this point?
You mentioned the risk of political/commercial influence, and I feel that the only way to mitigate this risk would be to clearly keep the learner as the owner of both their data, and their personalized learning algorithm itself. I think there is a lot of possibility for research into how we make these systems more transparent, and can more easily recognise and mitigate bias, but there will not be a single fix.