Although 1.5 billion people around the world are studying English, many will never get proficient enough to use English on the job. Instead, they get stuck at learning plateaus. They feel that they are failing to make progress and have a long way to go. As English-language-learning expert Fan Yi has noted, “They find they...
A field only moves forward if it chooses the right problems: big goals that make a difference. Many–perhaps most–of the adaptive learning systems out there are based on the same technology from the 1990s. Much of the research published today is tiny optimizations on small problems. Incremental progress can be valuable. But it shouldn’t be...
A recent evaluation at UVM (Universidad del Valle de México) Toluca of Alelo Enskill® English, an AI-driven learning product, found that students improved their spoken English skills, and also became more self-confident and willing to communicate in English. This in turn improved classroom instruction, because learners came to class better prepared and more willing to...
At the start of Alelo’s webinar series on the Future of AI in Education and Training, we asked what role AI should play in promoting learning. Some see the benefit of AI is as a technology that enables personalized learning. But as we have discussed in these webinars, personalized learning alone can make it harder...
In Educational Technology communities, there is a debate about the best way to structure online learning programs. Should platforms focus on the individual student or the classroom? Should teachers act as a leader of the class, or supplement students’ independent practice?
By Neil Heffernan, Worcester Polytechnic University Shared scientific instruments help address big challenges in research. The Hubble Space Telescope has helped hundreds of astronomers do studies that none of them could have done if they had to also build the instrument they use. Physicists benefit from shared particle accelerators that are expensive to build and...
