Why context is important for educational AI tools

Authors

Libby Hills

Senior Advisor for Learning Ventures Jacobs Foundation

Owen Henkel

AI Researcher, University of Oxford

This season Libby Hills from the Jacobs Foundation and AI researcher Owen Henkel continue to speak with leading researchers, practitioners and educators on the Ed-Technical podcast series about the cutting edge of AI in education. They will break down complex AI concepts into non-technical insights to better understand what the research says and help educators sift the useful insights from the AI hype. 

Another live Ed-Technical episode! In this short, Owen does a deep dive on AI and discourse analysis (the study of how meaning is constructed through language) with three experts. The conversation explores the intersection between AI, particularly Large Language Models (LLMs), and the study of discourse. 

This is a topical conversation as LLM capabilities continue to evolve. LLMs have mastered sentence level communication. However we know less about their ability to be useful over the course of a full conversation and complex and interactive processes (like learning) that require deeper appreciation of context. 

Featuring:

• Pani Kendeu: Professor at the University of Minnesota, researching learning, cognition, and technology, and a former elementary school teacher. 
• Alyssa Wise: Professor of Technology and Education at Vanderbilt University, directing the Live Learning Innovation Incubator which bridges technology with real-world classroom challenges.
• Art Graesser: Professor at the University of Memphis, co-founder of the Institute for Intelligent Systems and the Society for Text and Discourse.