Mexico
When you hear the word artificial intelligence (AI), perhaps the first thing that comes to your mind is science fiction movies and novels set in the distant future, featuring robots and computer systems making their own decisions. However, the use of artificial intelligence today is so prevalent and subtle that we should not be aware or identify that artificial intelligence is behind some of the everyday activities we do and the applications we use. there is.
On mobile phones alone, apps are within our reach that rely on behavioral algorithms to recommend products, photos, music, and videos, as well as suggest routes to take to commute and weather conditions to expect. the next day.
Today, artificial intelligence is used routinely in many industries such as financial services, insurance, retail, and entertainment.
In November 2019, Mexico’s Tecnológico de Monterey established the Artificial Intelligence Hub to coordinate research, academic and entrepreneurial activities related to the ethical use of artificial intelligence. This hub focuses on having the highest social impact in areas such as health, education and social access. Securing water and preventing violence are some of the key Sustainable Development Goals.
teaching and learning aids
One of the most promising and potentially beneficial uses of artificial intelligence is education, and one of the most interesting uses is in the process of teaching and learning.
Starting in 2019, Tecnológico de Monterey began rolling out the Tec21 model educational technology ecosystem for undergraduates.
This educational model aims to address challenges in cross-cutting and professional development, and one of its main components is the use of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence to support the monitoring and development of student competencies. Incorporating cutting-edge technology.
To enable this challenging teaching model, we designed an ecosystem with analytics as one of its key components to personalize student learning. With this in mind, each component of this education technology ecosystem is tied to an institution’s data strategy.
As a result, we now have a wealth of data on teaching and learning processes that can provide students, professors and instructors with relevant information for academic decision-making.
For example, students now have a dashboard to track their competency development. The next step is to personalize the learning experience according to the course you are taking, and customize the learning resources you need as your competencies develop. The software resources and references you need depending on the course you’re taking.
Additionally, various technologies are used for automation and personalization, saving faculty and staff time in the long run to find what works best for a particular student.
With adaptive learning, instead of professors continuously providing students with a series of explanations to help them understand concepts, students learn what they need to do through personalized paths generated by artificial intelligence and machine learning. You can access interactive content at any time. Understand concepts and access necessary resources discovered by analytics.
academic honesty
An issue that has become more relevant during the pandemic was ensuring the academic integrity of online exams. Technology helps professors achieve consistency and standardization of terms during the assessment process.
The use of artificial intelligence analyzes video from students’ webcams during exams to automate student identification and, if necessary, to detect relevant moments when the academic integrity of assessments has been compromised. increase.
As part of ensuring academic integrity, we use artificial intelligence-powered text analysis capabilities to determine whether each paper submitted by a student is authentic or similar to other papers submitted by the same group of students. section is checked for inclusion. Or from the same institution.
This analytical capability can be extended with automated validation of private or public data sources on the Internet and made available to professors as analytical reports.
The role of analytics
Learning analytics is based on data analysis and the use of AI-supported models and behavioral patterns, and can provide recommendations, profiling, and/or personalized learning paths. These analyzes help students identify success factors, risks in achieving sub-competencies, and map their progress on courses.
For professors, analytics is a tool that can identify courses that students need support in achieving sub-competency development, or sub-competencies that need more attention.
A project currently in development uses facial analysis to determine students’ cognitive-emotional states in real-time at different moments in class, measuring factors such as emotional state, affection, and activation. It is used to support classroom instruction in both online and hybrid formats.
The goal is to provide professors with a real-time dashboard that allows them to instantly adjust class dynamics with different stimuli and teaching strategies to motivate students to learn. In addition, an integrated report is produced that provides the academic community with details of the time-series changes in the cognitive-emotional state of the students in order to improve the pedagogical redesign of course activities.
subtle tools
Artificial intelligence has become an everyday and sophisticated tool used in many fields, including education. In education, it can bring significant benefits to learning and skill development, and improve the efficiency and consistency of assessment.
Tecnológico de Monterey will continue to use artificial intelligence to facilitate learning. After all, the goal is simple. It is about using artificial intelligence in ways that help professors and students make their teaching models more efficient and effective.
Bertha Alicia Saldívar Barboza is Vice President for Educational Innovation and Academic Regulation at Polytechnic University of Monterrey, Mexico.
