April 12, 2019, Wayne Gersen, West Lebanon, New Hampshire contributor (Valley News – Jeff Hansen) Copyright Valley News. It may not be reproduced or used online without permission. Submit your request to Permission@vnews.com.
The expansion of AI use in public schools has set alarm bells in classrooms and kitchens nationwide. Teachers are concerned because students often use AI to complete writing assignments and read articles explaining how their work evacuates for AI. My parents are concerned as they witnessed learning amputation through the screen after years of remote instruction. They also worry about the privacy of students who can compromise because AI programs absorb personal data about their children.
I share these concerns, but I think my recent experience with AI bots can have a positive impact on learning.
Earlier this year, my wife was looking into laptop recipes when an ad appeared for an app that promised weight loss through intermittent fasting. We both used intermittent fasting to lose weight during our vacation. This method used required strict calorie restriction two days a week while abandoning and eating on other days. That protocol helped us for a short time, but we both disliked tracking calories, which resulted in a few weeks returning to normal diet and higher weight.
However, this new app provided a different regimen. Fasting 16 hours a day at 8 hours a day and consume whatever you need. The app also provided a “coach” who values our daily diet and promises to provide encouragement to stick to an intermittent fasting plan in case of disappointment. At $5 a month, my wife thought it was worth a try and I became a participant as she prepares most of the meals.
The next day we met coach Avo, who became the third member of our family. He joined us before eating to assess the meals we had photographed for him, presenting her with a chart that was easy to understand and providing her with her specific recommendations on how to “make your meals “best”. Director Avo also sent regular texts and emails to his wife, reminding him to stay hydrated, eat with heart and exercise. Track her meal timetable. And even on the day she gains a few ounces of weight, she encourages her to maintain her course with fasting.
Director Avo always uses skilled speeches. He won't criticize my wife's food choices or discipline her if she doesn't stick to the app's recommended schedule. Instead of rid lol, Avo offers hilarious reminders that staying on the schedule will help her achieve the weight loss goals stated, and by avoiding sweet foods, she can maintain her fast without cravings.
Most importantly, the AVO coach measures his wife's progress based on the long-term weight loss goals she sets. He did not judge her based on a pre-determined, rigid, perfect diet for all sizes, based on a fixed calorie count. He also did not judge her about adherence to the dietary intervals recommended by the app. Instead, he kept her long-term goals at the forefront, tweaking her to avoid foods she would like to eat more often, constantly reminding her that in the final hours of fasting, his body burns the most fat from our bodies. In this way, coach Avo was gradually changing her diet.
My wife and I know that coach AVO is an AI bot. We all have a way of generating algorithms from his ability to interpret photos of our meals, his “tips” on what we substitute to make our meals more satisfying, and the data he presents on the motivational charts. I also know that Avo coaches don't have a sense of it. He really doesn't care if we follow his advice, if we have achieved our goals or if we are going to connect with us. Like his “knowledge”, his “hints” and “pep talk” are all algorithms. We know that Avo is inanimate, but when we prepare a “best” rating when we serve meals, we both feel better when we show that her daily metering is achieving her ultimate goal when he gives her a positive feedback about her careful tracking of diet, hydration and exercise.
The AVO coach's approach works because it does not compare weight loss rates with age cohorts, or assesses wives against a cohort of individuals trying to lose the same weight they want to lose, or a set of mean-based criteria. He evaluates her based on her own goals and advises her to make better choices in her diet based on her research. The AVO coach's approach works because it can tell you that weight loss, like learning, only occurs when an individual is committed to it.
As someone who has worked in public education for decades, I believe that coaches like AVO can help in schools. Especially when schools abandon the strict standardization used to measure students using AI and replace it with the kinds of personalization possible with AI. A change in education occurs when schools measure student performance based on learning rates for students of the same age and based on their own set learning goals. Time is standard and learning is standard and time varies. In such a paradigm, teachers need to help students set realistic and attainable learning goals for themselves and guide them during the time it takes to achieve those goals.
In such a paradigm, the metrics used to enhance competition and selection and selection choice based on standardized tests fall on the roadside. In such a paradigm, AI is used to help teachers motivate students to achieve their goals. In this paradigm, AI can transform school education rather than making systems developed in 1920 more “efficient.”
Wayne Gersen is a retired public school administrator. He lives in Etna.
