Artificial Intelligence Innovations for Education

Published Mar-26-18

Breakthrough:
An innovative learning assistant that uses artificial intelligence to provide a more engaging and adaptive learning experience.

Company:
OpenEd.ai, United States

The Story:

Artificial intelligence has been around for a long time, but recent years have seen an increased buzz about its use and possible applications in dozens of industries. Additionally, big tech companies and venture capitalists are pouring money into the sector, which is set to revolutionize the way we work, rest, play, do business and learn.

Education is one of those areas that is witnessing an explosion in the adoption of and research into AI. The technologies are already making their presence felt with intelligent tutoring systems and smart content, such as customizable learning digital interfaces. AI's supporters believe it holds great potential for making education more accessible, more affordable and higher quality.

To explore even more AI avenues in learning OpenEd.ai, a non-profit dedicated to developing and promoting open-source AI for education launched the AI for Education Global HackWeek. It took place in July and August 2017 and tasked participants with solving an inefficiency or problem in education of their choosing using AI.

More than 1,400 students and education professionals from around the world signed up to take part and around 80 participants - who worked on their concepts remotely - made submissions. They were assessed by a judging panel made up of leading experts in the AI and open source community.

Novel Ideas

The $6,000 Grand Prize was awarded to a team and concept called ReadEX. The innovation is an intelligent reading application to improve attention spans while reading. It does this by providing an engaging and adaptive learning experience with real-time question generation using NLP and content recommendations as you read.

"While you read through the material, Merlin (our intelligent chatbot) figures out your progress and crafts intelligent questions which pop up as counters at the side of your screen," said the explanatory text that accompanied the team’s contest pitch.

If users fail to answer questions correctly those questions are automatically moved to the flashcards section which can be visited later for revision purposes.

Other winners included:

GradeGuardian - predictive models and visualizations for student performance - includes a chatbot that inputs student information and an advisor console that shows students at risk.

StyLing - an app that teaches users to write fluently in Hindu and other Indian languages.

Prize Money

Overall, $19,000 in prize money was distributed to five winners in three continents. In addition to the funds, winners were promoted on the OpenEd.ai website.

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