Chapter 5: The Teacher’s New Classroom workflow—Pragmatic AI
The technology of AI can be leveraged to provide a powerful assistant to the teacher and student but also to take over many of the mundane time consuming tasks of being a teacher. We are referencing one of the most powerful real and available tools Khanmigo as an example. Certainly the other tools can also be leveraged in the classroom.
Meet Chen, a high school math teacher teetering on the edge of burnout, his desire to uplift his students seemingly buried under administrative burdens and overcrowded classrooms. Enter Kahnmigo an AI teaching assistant equipped with technology developed by Sal Khan’s revolutionary Kahnmigo team.
As Chen takes the leap and logs into Khanmigo, he’s greeted with warmth. “Hello Chen, I’m Khanmigo. Together, let’s make math not just solvable but meaningful for your students,” it chimes. The air of tension around Chen dissipates; this machine doesn’t aim to replace him, but to elevate his reach.
In class, Khanmigo becomes more than a digital assistant; it’s a co-educator. Displayed on the smartboard, it doesn’t just solve equations; it understands the students’ individual needs. Here’s where the magic happens: a student inputs a wrong answer, and Khanmigo doesn’t just flag it as incorrect; it pinpoints the misconception behind the mistake. Much like Khan’s Kahnmigo, it corrects errors with a specificity that even Chen finds astonishing. It’s as if Khanmigo knows just what conceptual knot needs untangling in each student’s mind.
And Khanmigo is uncanny at making math relevant. To the budding game developer, it relates algebraic equations to coding algorithms. For the young basketball aficionado, it correlates statistics with game performance. Math suddenly becomes a language they all want to speak.
Chen’s initial fears of becoming obsolete are quashed. Instead, Khanmigo handles the repetitive, grinding tasks, liberating him to engage in the human art of teaching—mentoring, inspiring, and truly seeing his students. It’s as though the machine takes a backseat, yet in doing so, amplifies the humanity in the room.
Yes, Khanmigo has its shortcomings. It can sometimes lack nuance or stray from the topic. But it’s forthright about its limitations, nudging students to seek Chen for deeper expertise. And Chen, in turn, learns to manage Khanmigo as one manages any tool: with measured expectation and responsible use.
As the semester draws to a close, Chen is astounded by the leaps his students have made, the depths they’ve reached. Khanmigo has enabled this journey without ever compromising the human touch, the very essence of education. As he looks toward a future of more semesters, more students, and more breakthroughs, Chen feels his passion rekindled. Technology and teaching, he now knows, can indeed harmonize into a symphony of progress.
Stay tuned, for the next chapter plunges into the fascinating underpinnings of AI, and how virtual assistants like Khanmigo are programmed to learn and adapt. But for now, let this story serve as a testament: education is not about the dazzle of modern tools but about fostering human connections. When technology can fortify that objective, then we are truly on to something extraordinary.
So now lets meet Laura, a Literature and Writing instructor faced with the complex challenge of nurturing her students’ writing skills in an age of diminishing prose. Yet, Laura isn’t overwhelmed; she partners with Khanmigo Writing pal, her AI teaching assistant, to refine and revolutionize the teaching of writing. Let’s join Laura on this compelling journey that showcases the transformative synergy between human expertise and synthetic intelligence.
Laura’s Classroom Workflow with Khanmigo Writing Pal
Laura, keen on leveraging technology to enhance her students’ learning experiences, integrated Khanmigo’s Writing Pal, a tool endowed with features for brainstorming and real-time feedback. Here’s how Laura structured the learning workflow in her classroom:
Step 1: Individual Brainstorming
- Students initiate the writing process by brainstorming individually. They write a couple of lines and then pause to allow Khanmigo to suggest potential enhancements or directions for the narrative.
Step 2: Group Brainstorming
- After individual sessions, the students assemble in groups to share and discuss the ideas fostered during the brainstorming session, nurturing a rich ground of diverse perspectives.
Step 3: Drafting
- Guided by feedback from Khanmigo on aspects such as grammar and punctuation, the students craft their initial drafts, with the freedom to explore their narrative directions further.
Step 4: Self and Peer Review
- Post drafting, students engage in a self-review session, utilizing Khanmigo’s input for revising and polishing their drafts.
- Following this, they swap their drafts with peers for a review session, incorporating Khanmigo’s guidance to offer constructive critiques on their peer’s work, fostering a culture of collaborative learning and critical thinking.
Step 5: Final Draft and Submission
- Using feedback from Khanmigo and their peers, students work on their final drafts.
- Once polished to satisfaction, the drafts are then submitted to Laura for her review and feedback.
Step 6: Reflection
- After Laura’s feedback session, the students engage in a reflection process, discussing their learnings from the peer review session and understanding the different perspectives and inputs received during the collaborative exercise.
By implementing this workflow, Laura nurtured a conducive learning environment, promoting not only improved writing skills but also critical thinking and collaborative learning among her students.
Khanmigo AI Pilot Actual Real World Results
So these examples show what is possible but the However, what about the actual reported results of the pilots?
A pilot program in Newark Public Schools tested the use of the tools. The bot was designed to help students solve problems, but it sometimes gave direct answers rather than guiding students’ thinking. This raised concerns among officials who want students to build critical thinking skills, not just be given solutions.
Khan Academy acknowledged that Khanmigo “helped too much” on a fraction question and updated the AI so it no longer directly answers that question. However, when tested, Khanmigo still provided the fraction solution.
The pilot program involved students in grades 3-5. The students were given a variety of questions to ask Khanmigo, including math problems, science questions, and questions about the world. In some cases, Khanmigo provided detailed explanations of the answers. In other cases, it simply gave the answers.
The students’ teachers were also involved in the pilot program. They observed how the students interacted with Khanmigo and gave feedback on the experience.
The results of the pilot program are still being analyzed, but it is clear that there are some challenges to using classroom chatbots. The bots can be too helpful, providing direct answers rather than guiding students’ thinking. This can hinder students’ development of critical thinking skills.
Another challenge is that the bots can generate misinformation. Khan Academy is working to address this by carefully vetting the information that Khanmigo provides.
Despite these challenges, the pilot program has shown that classroom chatbots can be a valuable tool for learning. The bots can provide personalized instruction and help students learn at their own pace. They can also be used to provide extra support for students who are struggling.
The findings of the Newark pilot program will be valuable to other districts that are considering using classroom chatbots. The program has shown that these bots can be beneficial, but there are also some challenges that need to be addressed.
Overall, the pilot program in Newark has provided valuable data that could help other districts make informed decisions about whether to use classroom chatbots. The results of the program suggest that these bots can be a valuable tool for learning, but they need to be used carefully to avoid hindering students’ development of critical thinking skills and to prevent the spread of misinformation.
