Artificial Intelligence
Overview
The concept of Artificial Intelligence stirs images of sci-fi thrillers - an environment where we no longer control machines, they control us. Instead of being determining what technology does, we fight for the existence of humanity. While this image certainly sells books and movies, AI has a more practical supportive role in education. In education, AI has the potential to transform student interaction with (and access to) content. In the future, it is possible that intelligent agents will play a vital role in learning...offering support, providing guidance, and fostering interaction.
Much of current literature in AI is more rooted in theory than in practicality. Whenever someone stands up and proclaims "In 5 years, robots will clean our houses"...it's a good time to insert at least some common sense. In reality, much AI speculation lies in "future things" - so a balancing perspective is helpful.
| In many ways, the potential of AI in education rests not in defining a new way of "doing things", but rather offering a more effective way of doing what we are doing now. |
Resources
Artificial
Intelligence Meets Learning
"Recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI) allow course
developers to incorporate diagnostic tools, intelligent role-playing,
and tutoring systems into the learning process. The benefits of AI include
real-time interaction, continuous improvement of content delivery, and
an integrated approach to learning that provides students with an understanding
of how a topic, such as supply chain management, fits into a course on
operations and how that course fits into an overall business curriculum.
This can be done in a variety of ways including through the use of virtual
simulations."
Getting
smart with e-learning
"Dugite's "eGenius", a spin-off from the University of
Western Australia's Centre for Intelligent Information Processing Systems,
is touted as allowing educators with only average computer skills to publish
training materials to any device over any network, without having to learn
new programs."
Personality
Forge
Neat site...allows you to "build your own AI Personalities and turn
them loose to chat with real people and other Bots."
International
Journal of AI in Education
"IJAIED publishes papers and other items concerned with the application
of artificial intelligence techniques and concepts to the design of systems
to support learning."
Agent
Web
"Information, resources newsletters and mailing lists relating to
intelligent information agents, intentional agents, software agents, softbots,
knowbots, infobots, etc."
Intelligent
Software Agents Lab
Very resource rich site...links, articles, downloads, applications...
MIT
Artificial Intelligence Lab
Question: Is a listing of technology resources complete without a link
to MIT?? nah...
American
Association for AI
"... nonprofit scientific society devoted to advancing the scientific
understanding of the mechanisms underlying thought and intelligent behavior
and their embodiment in machines."
Intelligent
Agents - IBM
Good listing of AI activities at IBM, notably - browser intelligence
and MailCat (an intelligent agent to organize email - now that has relevance!).
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