Key points:
Closing the achievement gap and helping all students reach their full potential is not only a matter of equity, but also a key driver of economic growth and prosperity. By equipping students with the skills, knowledge and competencies they need to succeed, we can create a highly skilled and adaptable workforce that is able to meet the demands of a rapidly changing global economy. This, in turn, can drive innovation, entrepreneurship and job creation, and help ensure that the United States remains competitive in the 21st century.
Recent research has shown that generative ai tools have the potential to help close these gaps. These tools can be used to support students in a variety of ways, from personalized learning to high-dose tutoring. While more research is needed to evaluate the scalability and effectiveness of these tools, they offer a promising avenue to address the challenges students face in STEM education, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
High-dose mentoring as part of a promising solution
High-dose tutoring (HDT) is an encouraging solution that has helped accelerate learning and reduce achievement gaps. HDT is tutoring provided to one or two students per tutor, in person, three or more times per week. It has been shown to produce significant learning gains in a wide range of students; However, the intensive and individualized nature of HDT makes its large-scale implementation costly and challenging, limiting its accessibility to those who need it most.
Virtual HDT has made great strides in addressing some of these challenges. Research on Saga Education's Virtual Math Tutoring Program has shown that students who received the most virtual tutoring showed the greatest improvement in math performance. However, overall participation in the program was unexpectedly low, despite students receiving free laptops and Wi-Fi, further highlighting the need for innovative solutions to increase participation and scalability.
ai mentoring: a paradigm shift?
ai-enhanced tutoring systems are replicating the insights and results presented by traditional HDT and show promise in delivering significant academic benefits at scale. Tools like Tutor CoPilot, Wolfram, LiveHint ai, and Khanmigo provide personalized and adaptive learning experiences. They have the potential to capitalize on the impact of HDT and provide HDT opportunities to underserved students. As the use of generative ai in educational settings accelerates, it is essential to prioritize tools that enhance, rather than replace, student interactions with teachers, and ensure that ai remains a tool for equity and inclusion.
This idea of pedagogical excellence supported by ai-powered tools has several notable and exciting foreseeable benefits for students and educators:
- Customization and adaptability: ai-powered tutoring systems can provide personalized learning experiences that adapt to each student's needs in real time. This personalization is particularly beneficial for students who may struggle in traditional classroom settings and provides teachers with actionable data to address each student's needs and strengths.
- Scalability, accessibility and efficiency: ai expands high-quality tutoring services to reach more students, regardless of their location or economic status. By automating routine tasks and providing data-driven insights, ai allows teachers to focus on higher-level instructional strategies rather than tactically facilitating tutoring. This increased efficiency could allow for broader implementation of HDT programs.
- Improve educational equity: ai-enhanced tutoring can make educational outcomes more equitable, not just more accessible. By democratizing access to high-quality educational support, ai-powered tutoring could particularly benefit underserved students who would not otherwise have access to need-based supplemental education.
Overcoming the challenges of ai-enhanced tutoring
Although <a target="_blank" href="https://www.norc.org/research/library/unlocking-hearts-and-minds-transformative-power-of-ai-enhanced-high-dose-tutoring.html”>The initial results of ai-powered tutoring are extremely promising.Its widespread implementation faces technical, ethical and practical obstacles. For example, the Tutor CoPilot project has identified several technical challenges, including the need for strong content knowledge, the ability to participate in multi-turn conversations, and the ability to provide explanations tailored to individual student needs. These needs must be addressed before these tools become widely adopted, and are likely best addressed through a collaborative effort between researchers, educators, and developers to refine and improve these systems to maximize impact.
Integrated assessment and continuous improvement throughout all phases of development and implementation will help ensure that these tools truly deliver on their promise of improving educational outcomes for all students.
ai-enhanced tutoring represents an imminent and transformative opportunity to create a more accessible, equitable and effective education system. By combining the proven benefits of high-dose tutoring with the scalability and adaptability of ai, educators have the potential to close long-standing achievement gaps and give all students the support they need to succeed. As ai advances in tutoring and education, it is essential to continue investing in the research, development, and implementation of these innovative tools to help achieve educational equity for all students.
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=();t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)(0);
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘6079750752134785’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
