We’ve been shortlisted as finalists in Gartner’s Eye on Innovation Award for Education 2023 for our AI teaching assistant project!
This is a fantastic achievement and highlights some of the creative and innovative work that is being done in the Online Education team. Well done to Tim Hall (Senior Manager: Product Innovation) and Oliver Hodgkins (Senior Video Producer) for producing the successful submission!
Our search for support that’s as effective as 1:1 tutoring
Why did we start this project? In our fully-online programmes we encounter several challenges. These include the student desire for round-the-clock support, a burden of administrative tasks on educators, a need for more frequent and scaleable feedback opportunities, and mixed levels of student engagement with learning materials.
Looking for help with easy-to-use AI
We’ve been trialling a conversational AI chatbot which we’ve trained on our own course materials and is embedded in our online modules to offer students immediate feedback and support with their studies.
Our aim is for it to complement teacher-led instruction while allowing educators to retain control over their teaching methods. We also want to further develop our own insight into these emerging technologies so that we are able to confidently develop institutional strategies to cover the use of generative AI.
What’s next?
We’re currently gathering usage data to explore the value of our AI teaching assistant for learners and teachers.
We’ve also learned a lot ourselves and have since provided webinars for the wider federal university on chat-based learning and the use of chatbots, and engaged with our student body on their views and current use of generative AI in education – this has driven interest and provided insight throughout the wider organisation.
Competition entries are now under review and the 2023 winners will be announced shortly. Well done to all those involved and fingers crossed!
