Robot as a teacher?

By Maria E. Kallukaren
An American University of Sharjah professor is developing software that corrects errors made by students of English as a foreign language. Is this one step closer to a robotutor? Maria E. Kallukaren investigates.
It can make a teacher's burden lighter - Dr Marina Dodigovic's software. But can it replace him altogether? Dodigovic, an assistant professor of English and Tesol at the American University of Sharjah, certainly doesn't think so.
"Not in the long run," she says. "Computer applications are very task-specific."
On the other hand, the human brain is capable of processing an unimaginable range of functions simultaneously.
Having said that, software incorporating artificial intelligence continues to prove a valuable aid to people in a variety of fields including education.
Dodigovic is developing one such software - the Intelligent Tutor.
It works on the broad concept of Computer Assisted Language Learning.
Its strength lies in correcting errors and teaching vocabulary, grammar and the lexical aspects to learners of English as a second language.
Style of learning
What's more, it can adapt to a student's style of learning.
The pilot project has been successfully tested on around 300 students in Taiwan, Australia and the UAE, achieving an average of 85 per cent success in the correction of errors. Dodigovic says the next stage will be working on the user interface - what users would like as part of the software.
Although being tested in AUS's foundation classes, the software needs more student input before it can be finetuned to meet the needs of the student community as a whole.
If developed commercially, the software can be provided online.
It will be classified based on topics and a student can learn according to his or her own pace.
Robots to teach Arabic?
The British University in Dubai supports advanced research projects into information technology and its impact on education.
Dr Habib Talhami, head of the Institute of Informatics and senior lecturer at the university, believes Computer Assisted Language Learning can be adapted to the teaching of Arabic.
A version, currently being tested at the Rashid Paediatric Centre, helps children with Down's Syndrome.
In this case, the software primarily looks at pronunciation and the order of letters rather than grammar and spelling.
"The software uses the same reasoning processes as a flesh and blood tutor," says Talhami.
Both Talhami and Dr Marina Dodigovic, who is developing the Intelligent Tutor, would welcome funding from private companies for commercial production. But it isn't all that forthcoming.
"There's very little history of research in this region," says Talhami. "This attitude has to change." The main costs are in research, he says.
Are humans history?
Once developed the software can be sold at nominal prices and even exported.
Will giving the human teacher, which is part of social tradition, a boot be part of this success story?
"I don't think you can ever replace the human. These are teaching aids that can take on mundane and repetitive tasks."
A teacher's burden
Today's classroom is a far cry from yesterday's; and so it will be from tomorrow's.
There was a time when the teacher was the be all and end all in a classroom.
Today he is jostling for attention alongside multimedia devices, laptops and the worldwide web.
His role is fast becoming that of a guide, directing students towards sources of knowledge and how these can be best used.
Will that too, in time, be usurped by Asimov's thinking, reasoning robot?
Artificial intelligence
Dr. Kurt VanLehn, Artificial Intelligence researcher and professor of computer science at the University of Pittsburgh, US, paints a scenario of a time when "seat work takes place at home, with the help of a smart tutor".
"When students hit a rough spot, the tutor will automatically send a file with the problem to the teacher.
"When students return to class, the teacher can help them. The system directs human contact where it's most needed," he says in an article published in techlearning.com.
However, he stresses: "You can't replace a teacher."
THE INTELLIGENT TUTOR
- Corrects errors that learners of English as a second language are prone to make in grammar, vocabulary and the lexical aspects of the language.
- It can adapt to different learning styles. This it does by providing various study options for learners. The software can:
- Provide hints to tease the learner to detect the errors they have made and how these can be corrected.
- Through repetitions that help the learner practise
- The authoritarian option - if the learner prefers to be provided a set of rules which help him understand the language better.
- The software doesn't immediately respond to all the errors that a learner might make in a given sentence. "But one at a time so that the learner is not overwhelmed all at once," says Dodigovic.
ADVANTAGES OF USING THE INTELLIGENT TUTOR
- A student can learn at his own pace.
- Immediate correction of errors and immediate feedback.
- Teachers under pressure of time and resources can't often address an individual student's specific needs.
- Timely help can help maintain student's interest levels in a language programme and help reduce the drop-out rate.
- Thus the overall efficiency of a language programme improves.
- It can have a tremendous impact on the teaching of English in schools and colleges here.
- Higher education institutions spend a considerable portion of their budget to train UAE national students in English.
TOMORROW'S CLASSROOM
Voice to text (VTT)
- A student doesn't have to type out an assignment; just speak and his or her thoughts and ideas automatically appear on screen.
- The downside: Researchers are concerned that VTT allows next to no time for reflection; how many times have we said something that we regretted a second later. So they prefer it being used for "quick writes".
- Will help: Second-language learners and students with disabilities that make it difficult for them to type.
Hybrid computing
Science students can use a data-mining device to check the Ph of soil, variables such as temperature and pressure. These are later analysed in the science lab. Hybrid technology also lies behind interactive toys and books.
Virtual reality
Techlearning.com contrasts a boring physics lecture with a virtual reality session where students donning the appropriate headgear, their hands manipulating navigation tools are transported to Einstein's study.
Artificial Intelligence
Researchers are working on creating more efficient applications that can take on more of the tiresome aspects of a teacher's job, such as marking answer sheets. Even today online systems are available where students can turn in essays and get them graded.
Compare this with a teacher going through 25 answer sheets and returning them to students in a week or two.