Four Significant Studies on Artificial Intelligence Tutors That Every Educator Ought to Be Aware Of
In the ever-evolving landscape of education, artificial intelligence (AI) is making its mark, with both promising and challenging implications. A recent study of nearly 1,000 students revealed that an AI tutor, powered by GPT-4, had a negative impact on student performance in a math exam. However, it's essential to delve deeper into the nuances of AI in education, recognising that AI can offer significant benefits when utilised effectively.
AI chatbots, such as ChatGPT, have shown a positive effect on college students' learning motivation, performance, self-efficacy, interests, and perceived value of learning. However, the current best practices for using AI tutors in education involve a balanced approach that emphasises personalisation, instant feedback, and availability, while addressing challenges such as student engagement, overreliance, ethical concerns, and algorithmic trust.
Key best practices for leveraging AI tutors include personalising learning content, providing instant, 24/7 feedback and support, encouraging active student engagement, using AI as a supplement rather than a substitute, monitoring for ethical and bias issues, managing trust smartly through transparency and training, and avoiding overuse and screen time overload.
Personalising learning content allows AI tutors to tailor instruction based on individual student data, generating customised exercises, explanations, and adaptive quizzes that align with each student's unique needs. Providing instant, 24/7 feedback and support ensures students receive help when they need it, acting as always-available academic assistants. Encouraging active student engagement is crucial, as passive or superficial use leads to limited learning gains.
AI should enhance, but not replace, human teachers, supporting educators by reducing administrative burdens and enriching instruction, while maintaining human connection and fostering creativity and critical thinking. Monitoring for ethical and bias issues is essential to ensure fairness and equitable access, and managing trust smartly through transparency and training helps build appropriately critical trust that maximises AI’s benefits without overlooking errors.
Avoiding overuse and screen time overload is crucial to prevent excessive device time, making learning time more productive and focused, rather than increasing total screen hours.
The study of AI tutors demonstrated that more AI access does not always equal more student success. In this particular study, the AI version of Elinor, an AI-powered chatbot, was used as an answer machine, potentially hindering learning. This suggests that there are many creative potential uses for AI tutoring to be discovered in the future.
Younger students did not see statistically significant improvement when interacting with AI chatbots. However, AI chatbots could potentially alleviate students' anxiety. It's important to note that we are still in the early days of AI, and more tutoring successes are likely to come.
In a study of Tutor CoPilot, a tool designed at Stanford to help human tutors do their work more efficiently, nearly 1,000 students worked with 900 tutors. Students who worked with tutors and used Tutor CoPilot were 4% more likely to master a topic after a session. The students working with the lowest-rated tutors saw the most significant gains as the AI helped compensate.
The study of AI tutors does not show that using AI tutors hurt student success in general, just that relying on one can. AI characters, in the form of an AI-assisted version of Elinor from PBS Kids, have been found to help young students (aged 4-7) learn effectively, as demonstrated in a recent study led by Ying Xu.
Positive impacts of AI chatbots on college students' learning outcomes were only seen in some studies and seemed to wear off over time. An AI tool called Tutor CoPilot helps human tutors by coaching them on different questions they might ask a student, and the human connection that occurs during tutoring may aid the emotional well-being of the student. The consensus among experts is that AI tutors, when used in the right way in the right context, can likely be helpful.
Teachers should be aware of the study of AI tutors as a cautionary tale, recognising that AI can be a valuable tool when used effectively, but also understanding the potential pitfalls. As we continue to explore the possibilities of AI in education, it's essential to approach its implementation with a balanced, thoughtful strategy that prioritises student success, engagement, and well-being.
- AI chatbots, like ChatGPT, can boost college students' learning motivation, performance, self-efficacy, interests, and perceived value of learning, provided that they are used effectively.
- A balanced approach to using AI tutors should personalise learning content, offer instant, 24/7 feedback and support, encourage active student engagement, and use AI as a supplement rather than a substitute.
- AI tutors can tailor instruction based on individual student data, offering customised exercises, explanations, and adaptive quizzes, which align with each student's unique needs.
- AI should collaborate with human teachers, reducing administrative burdens, enriching instruction, maintaining human connection, and fostering creativity and critical thinking, rather than replacing them.
