PFI:AIR - TT: Commercializing an Intelligent Tutor for eLearning in Mathematics

University Of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst MA

Investigators

Abstract

This PFI: AIR Technology Translation (TT) project addresses the high failure rate of K12 students to learn mathematics. This project focuses on technology translation of an intelligent online tutor, named MathSpring, which is important because it provides adaptive and personalized responses to students and teaches by matching the learning needs of individual students with effective teaching approaches. It applies theoretical understanding of cognitive, metacognitive and affective student characteristics to each tutor response. The MathSpring Tutor is also important because no online tutor today responds by analyzing both student knowledge and behavior. This PFI:AIR-TT project will result in a scale-up of the MathSpring Tutor and provide advantages in the marketplace by capitalizing on the general appeal of animation and humanoid characters that talk to students about the importance of perseverance and effort. The project will also provide low-cost, quality solutions for a wide range of students, adaptive tutoring based on student models, just-in-time verbal and animated interactions designed to move students away from boredom or disengagement, and the capability to select from among potentially 700 problems in the system. These features of the MathSpring tutor provide improved performance, efficiency and efficacy when compared to classroom teaching or to the leading competing technology, primarily drill and practice problems, videos of lectures or games in this market space. The potential economic impact of translating this technology to the market place will positively contribute to the growth rate of eLearning within the next 5 years and to the U.S. competitiveness in the eLearning domain. Since the annual U.S. education expenditure for K-12 is approximately $625 billion, a large potential exists for making both a commercial and social impact in this space. Potential outcomes include: personalized tutors that guide students into their own zone or state of ?flow?; identification of target educational markets; and reaching any student with access to a computer and an Internet connection. This PFI project addresses the following technology gaps as the software is translated from research discovery toward commercial application: identification of tutor responses that are effective for students in distress (e.g., bored, unmotivated); building sufficient content so the tutor can be used through an entire semester in Grades 5-9; and providing tools that enable teachers to select math problem based on the Common Core curriculum. The project work also includes hardening the tutor, porting it to two platforms (e.g., Android, IOS) and identifying consortia of schools (e.g., linked by geography, or pedagogy) for long-term partnerships. Personnel involved in this project, e.g., graduate students and programmers, will receive innovation and technology translation experiences through efforts to identify paths through the idiosyncratic school procurement process and the communication of the efficacy studies arising from credible evaluation of MathSpring. The project engages CarneyLabs to guide commercial aspects of the translation and Virginia Advanced Studies Strategies (VASS), a non-profit company that works with the Virginia Department of Education (DoED), to provide a test environment in this technology translation effort from research discovery toward commercial reality.