March 12, 2024
Talk Less and Listen More? AI Can Help
We are narrow thinkers, we are noisy thinkers, and it is very easy to improve upon us.
– Ajay Agrawal, Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence
“Silence may be golden, but when it comes to learning with a tutor, talking is pure gold. It’s audible proof that a student is paying attention and not drifting off,” writes Jill Barshay for the Hechinger Report. Barshay goes on to discuss the impact of a new artificial intelligence ‘talk meter’ that measures the ratio of teacher to student talk time. Barshay argues talk time matters for learning: “The more a student articulates his or her reasoning, the easier it is for a tutor to correct misunderstandings or praise a breakthrough. Those are the moments when learning happens.”
Cuemath, a tutoring service, collaborated with researchers at Stanford University to study the talk meter, which pops up a few times each session. The meter turns red if the student talks less than 25% of the time and green if the student talks more than 50% of the time. 700 tutors and 1,200 students were randomly sorted into a control group and two experimental groups:
“When just the tutors saw the talk meter, they tended to curtail their explanations and talk much less. But despite their efforts to prod their tutees to talk more, students increased their talking only by 7 percent.”
When both tutors and students saw the talk meter, “students increased their talking by 18 percent. Introverts especially started speaking up, according to interviews with the tutors.”
Join a conversation about artificial intelligence in the World Forum Café this Wednesday, March 13, at 11 am eastern (New York). “Join us as we dive into how AI is transforming educational practices and discover hands-on applications that are making a significant impact.” Register to receive the link to this free event.
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