Artificial intelligence helps teachers identify which of their students have learning difficulties, according to a new study.
Teachers make more accurate assessments of learning difficulties such as dyslexia and ADHD among their students if they are given AI-generated feedback rather than an “expert solution” written by a qualified professional.
The research suggests that AI could improve teachers’ ability to spot and provide evidence for learning difficulties, meaning children can get diagnosed and receive tailored support faster.
Researchers believe that because the AI analyzed the teacher’s own work it was easier for the teacher to understand than a “model answer” prepared beforehand.
“Teachers play a critical role in recognising the signs of disorders and learning difficulties in pupils and referring them to specialists,” said Riikka Hofmann, associate Professor at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge and one of the authors of the study, published in the journal Learning and Instruction.
“Unfortunately, many of them also feel that they have not had sufficient opportunity to practise these skills. AI could provide an extra level of individualised feedback to help them develop these essential competencies.”
Researchers at Cambridge teamed up with academics at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU Munich) for the study, where trainee teachers were asked to assess fictionalized students for potential learning difficulties, based on evidence including examples of their work, school behavior records and transcripts of conversations with parents.
Half of the trainees received the “expert solution”, typical of the material given to trainee teachers, while the other half received AI-generated feedback on their approach, highlighting where they could improve.
The trainees then completed similar follow-up assessments, and were graded both on the accuracy of their diagnoses and on how well they had used the evidence.
Trainees who received the AI feedback scored considerably higher than those who worked with the pre-written expert solutions.
While the researchers said this does not mean AI is preferable to one-to-one feedback from a skilled tutor, this is not always available for trainee teachers.
“We are not arguing that AI should replace teacher-educators: new teachers still need expert guidance on how to recognise learning difficulties in the first place,” said Dr Michael Sailer, from LMU Munich.
“It does seem, however, that AI-generated feedback helped these trainees to focus on what they really needed to learn. Where personal feedback is not readily available, it could be an effective substitute.”
The AI used for the study was created using the responses of a previous cohort of trainee teachers, with the system learning to spot the presence or absence of key points in the teachers’ assessments, and then providing appropriate blocks of pre-written feedback.
While the AI did not help teachers diagnose particular difficulties, it did help them provide evidence of potential learning difficulties.
The researchers emphasized that this was a more useful skill to have in the classroom, where teachers provide evidence of their concerns but that actual diagnoses are made by special education teachers.
The team hope to undertake further research to explore what makes AI an effective tool and assess its potential for wider use.
“Using AI to support simulation-based learning could have real value,” said Frank Fischer, Professor of Education and Educational Psychology at LMU Munich.
“Developing and implementing complex natural language-processing tools for this purpose takes time and effort, but if it helps to improve the reasoning skills of future cohorts of professionals, it may well prove worth the investment.”
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April 15, 2022 at 07:35PM
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AI Helps Teachers Spot Students With Learning Difficulties - Forbes
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