Robot pals and AI tools: What鈥檚 ahead for tech in the classroom?
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Jackie Valley Staff writer
| Las Vegas
It鈥檚 hard not to smile back at Buddy.
He鈥檚 sitting on the convention floor at CES, the large technology conference formerly known as the Consumer Electronic Show, in Las Vegas. His white body rotates and his head swivels, but it鈥檚 his emotive face that melts hearts. The robot smiles, frowns, blinks, and even tears up 鈥撀燿igitally, of course.
His Paris-based creator, Blue Frog Robotics, bills him as an 鈥渆motional companion鈥� that can solve problems faced by education systems.聽
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onHow close are we to having technology that could reimagine the way learning is accomplished? The Monitor鈥檚 K-12 education reporter visited the recent CES show to see how the gadgetry on display and educator needs match up.
For example, Buddy sits on desks and becomes a homebound or hospitalized child鈥檚 avatar, providing the classroom experience in a more natural way.聽Last year, France鈥檚 Ministry of Education ordered roughly 2,000 of the artificial intelligence-enhanced robots for that purpose, says Maud Verraes, the Paris-based company鈥檚 chief marketing officer.聽
鈥淭here鈥檚 a big need, and it鈥檚 the same everywhere,鈥� Ms. Verraes says of using the robot to give children a virtual presence in classrooms.聽
Buddy鈥檚 inclusion among the aisles of futuristic gadgets at CES nods to the ever-changing technology landscape in K-12 education. Schools once tiptoeing toward adopting technology began a sprint at the onset of the pandemic. And even though remote learning has faded somewhat, the technology conversation has intensified.聽
Teachers aren鈥檛 just grappling with how and when to embrace digital learning methods. They鈥檙e also eyeing educational integrity threats posed by artificial intelligence. Last week, the New York City Department of Education聽 on district networks and devices to ChatGPT, an AI-enabled program released to the public in .
Despite concerns about tools like ChatGPT writing students鈥� essays, Lindy Hockenbary, a classroom teacher-turned-education-technology consultant, says there鈥檚 also room for hope. The same artificial intelligence technology powering those聽programs could help identify students鈥� academic strong and weak spots. In theory, they could flag a student struggling to understand fractions, alerting the teacher that more support or practice is needed.
鈥淚t鈥檚 disruptive to the way we do formal education now,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut the other part of it 鈥� and where it can truly transform education 鈥� is it does have the power to help with personalized learning.鈥�
And if a stroll through CES 鈥� held Jan. 5-8 鈥� is any indication, the disruptions will continue in big and small ways. Roybi Inc., the creator of an educational robot, debuted its RoybiVerse, which the company describes as an 鈥渋ntelligent edutainment metaverse.鈥澛犅�
Picture a virtual universe with dazzling animation and characters. The immersive learning platform aims to engage students and empower them to learn at their own pace through interactivity, says Elnaz Sarraf, founder and CEO of聽Roybi. The company expects to launch its RoybiVerse first on virtual reality headsets and then computers.
鈥淚mmersive education is the future of learning,鈥� says Ms. Sarraf via email. 鈥淪tudents can get into the virtual worlds, collaborate, interact and learn together while educators can easily make their content available at anytime and anywhere in the world.鈥�
How much (or little) of the classroom experience will migrate to the metaverse is difficult to say. Internet connectivity issues still challenge some schools, especially in rural areas. Other schools haven鈥檛 yet achieved the coveted ratio of one laptop or tablet for every child. Some of that boils down to cost.聽
That鈥檚 why technology isn鈥檛 always top of mind for Vicki Kreidel, a Las Vegas reading specialist whose elementary school sits about 8 miles northeast of where tech gurus gathered for CES. She has embraced some tech 鈥撀爐aking kids on virtual field trips, for example 鈥� but says schools need more basic resources before fancy gadgets.聽
鈥淚 think as educators, we need to stand up and say, 鈥榊ou know what? That鈥檚 not really useful. We could use more books,鈥欌�� she says.
Ms. Hockenbary, who helps K-12 educators leverage technology for learning purposes, grounds her approach with this needs-based question: How will it benefit the student?聽
鈥淵ou鈥檙e using it as a way to help your students get from A to B, right? 鈥撀爃elping them reach a learning goal,鈥� she says. 鈥淎nd I think that big picture focus gets lost a lot in all of the hubbub.鈥�
Unlike Buddy, a previous CES innovation 聽that can also teach kids to code (current price in the business world: $3,000), some of the other ed-focused items on display at the packed show simply adapt or reimagine existing products, with the aim of making learning easier or more attainable.
Jin Sub Oh, the founder of Seoul-based Bengdii, hopes to do well with his pastel-hued聽headset that offers comfort to student ears. Mr. Oh says the product was born out of the pandemic-related foray into remote learning.
鈥淚 have two sons,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey hate wearing headsets.鈥�
They dislike the pressure, he says. So the Bengdii Bee, newly available for , features earpieces that can cover or flip away from the ear.聽聽
Glitzy tech products aren鈥檛 always a prerequisite for student engagement and learning, says聽Jordana McCudden, an assistant principal at an elementary school in Las Vegas. She has seen students鈥� reading and math skills increase after using digital learning programs on Chromebooks or tablets. On the flip side, she recently reminded her college-age son to take notes by hand, given the learning benefits of doing so.
After hearing about some of the gadgetry featured at CES, Ms. McCudden praises the Buddy robot and the headsets that take pressure off of kids鈥� ears. But she also expresses disappointment that the pandemic struggles didn鈥檛 prompt greater innovation about how to digitally connect students and teachers in a way that is 鈥渇luid and easy and not one more thing for a teacher to do.鈥�
She says she looks for the harmony between education and technology, while also acknowledging the role the latter plays all around us. In her own home, she can voice a question and have an artificial intelligence-powered device promptly reply. But technology should not supplant the teacher, she says, nor should it stifle discourse or collaboration among students.聽
鈥淚 love that ... my kids have access to [home technology], and I think it鈥檚 enhanced their lives,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut we have to maintain that balance of humanity and human connection and the value in talking out our ideas and processing together and having vigorous debate.鈥�
