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Wentao Wang

Topic 2: Final reflections

  • What did you learn?

First of all, I learned more about doing research; how to organize my thought processes; how to narrow down all my ideas to a applicable project; and most of all, how to design and express my thoughts through my project. From my research, I learned more about pedagogy, AI added teaching, teacher’s influences on students, etc. And I believe that for now, human teacher is irreplaceable .

  • What feedback did you receive? Any reflections on critique itself?

Some negative feedbacks I received are the message I’m sending was not too strong; the questions and the game form is not very friendly for users who are not familiar with this kind of decision make game or game theory. I admit the message was not very strong if the user is only playing the game, but I believe by providing more background information and introduction to the game, my idea would be clearer to the users.

  • What might you do differently in terms of process or content?

The coding part took me a long time, which led me less time for more thorough user testing. I spent a little longer time on realizing the functions of the game. If I might do it differently, I would spent less attention on the coding part. I would start user testing with simpler prototype, print the questions on paper for example.

  • What was inspiring? What parts?

The most inspiring part was when I finally narrowed down my focus to AI and teacher – student emotional connections. Since the future situations of AI has not been achieved yet, so the professor suggested that I could try to create a setting to mimic this futuristic scenario. Not everything has to be realistic, we can also present the users a situation where they could have a peek into the future world.

  • Revisit the assignment prompts: how did your project relate to the original prompts, in terms of critical lens, audience, tone, etc… 

For this project, I think I followed along the original prompts. I have a critical lens which looks from the new of teachers, students, and educators. AI and other technologies have been taking over people’s jobs and affecting our lives, so how would AI affect education was my focus. The primary audience I have in mind was teachers, students and parents, but it’s not limited to them. Since education is a important part of everyone’s life, anyone could be a potential audience. The tone of my project is more sarcastic. Since AI couldn’t actually make emotional connections with people, so my attempt to use my own video for simulating AI responses is a stronger approve for this point.

  • How did you balance research and experimentation? Which is easier for you? How can you focus more on the areas that you shy away from

For this project, research is a little bit hard for me, since I had a hard time narrowing down my project topic. The more research I did, the more pressure I was having, since there were too many good topics worth researching and dig into. After deciding my topic, the following research and experimentation is easier for me.

Topic 2: Final Documentation

Here is the link to my presentation slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1pycgeBW917MoM0FG8Qr7c3pETEx2SAfD/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=110159789191633592073&rtpof=true&sd=true

Here are the links to the game:

Project summary:

For this project, I’m focusing on education and pedagogy. After making concept maps and doing reachers, I narrowed my focus to AI and teacher. In my research, I found that other than teaching knowledge, teachers cause a lot more influences to students than we normally think.

I’m currently working in a educational company. Our company designs and produces self-learning devices for students, and our ultimate goal is to achieve education equality; to be more specific, every student with this learning device could learn what are taught in school all by themselves, even better. Since educational resources are rare in poor area, with this divide, we no longer need teachers or even schools, everyone can receive the best education. This makes me think about the comparison between AI teaching and a real teacher. And based on my research, the emotional connection between a human teacher and students is crucial in students’ mental development and characteristic formation, and that’s what AI could not achieved for now. Maybe in the future where AI has been evolved good enough to make social and emotional connections with people, but for now, human teacher is irreplaceable.

The game I made aimed to simulate a situation where people can make connections with the computer. The the game is a metaphor of a teaching setting. In the game, the players have to make choices, and every time a player makes a choice, a video of a human (me) will popup, this is my attempt to form an emotional bond with the player. If AI could replace human teacher by forming emotional bonds with students, this emotional attachment would be able to affect the students’ decision making. (or the players’ decision making in my project)

User testing result:

  • Here are some of the feedbacks I received from some of the users who played the game:
  • The questions are a little bit confusing for people who are not familiar with the rules.
  • Some users didn’t realize the outcome of making different choices.
  • The video popup takes time to load, which disturbs the flow of experience.
  • The message sent from this game is not clear enough, people tend to pay more attention to the game itself, rather than have a video showing up after making the choices.
  • The influence of the video is little, few people tends to change their decision with or without the video.

Here are the system maps:

      

this is a picture of me teaching elementary school students in a classroom:

This is the link to my bibliography:

This is the link to my interview documentation:

 

Topic 2: Bibliography

Bibliography

Bayfield, Zach. “It’s Time to Reevaluate Traditional Pedagogy – The Oberlin Review.” The Oberlin Review, https://oberlinreview.org/25624/opinions/its-time-to-reevaluate-traditional-pedagogy/. Accessed 30 Nov. 2022.

“Frontiers | The Relationship between Teacher Support and Students’ Academic Emotions: A Meta-Analysis.” Frontiers, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02288/full. Accessed 30 Nov. 2022.

“Harlow’s Classic Studies Revealed the Importance of Maternal Contact – Association for Psychological Science – APS.” Association for Psychological Science – APS, https://www.psychologicalscience.org/publications/observer/obsonline/harlows-classic-studies-revealed-the-importance-of-maternal-contact.html. Accessed 30 Nov. 2022.

Holstein, Kenneth, and Vincent Aleven. “Designing for Human–AI Complementarity in K‐12 Education.” AI Magazine, no. 2, Wiley, June 2022, pp. 239–48. Crossref, doi:10.1002/aaai.12058.
Ilomäki, Liisa, and Pirkko Rantanen. “Intensive Use of ICT in School: Developing Differences in Students’ ICT Expertise.” Computers & Education, no. 1, Elsevier BV, Jan. 2007, pp. 119–36. Crossref, doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2005.01.003.
Kenneth, et al. “Student Learning Benefits of a Mixed-Reality Teacher Awareness Tool in AI-Enhanced Classrooms | SpringerLink.” SpringerLink, Springer International Publishing, 2018, https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-93843-1_12.
KIM, WOO-HYUN, and JONG-HWAN KIM. Individualized AI Tutor Based on Developmental Learning Networks. Feb. 2020.
“The Pedagogical Limitations of Inclusive Education: Educational Philosophy and Theory: Vol 52, No 10.” Taylor & Francis, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00131857.2020.1723549?journalCode=rept20. Accessed 30 Nov. 2022.

Topic 2: interview

Here is the documentation of the interview I had with a collage professor.

  1. What is your occupation

collage professor

  1. What do you think the relationship between teachers and students should be like?

Teachers and students should teach each other and learn from each other.

  1. In addition to the teaching of knowledge, what other influences do teachers have on students?

Evangelism, teachers play an important role in helping students establish a correct worldview and values. Teacher also helps student with their psychological and mental health.

  1. Does online distance teaching have a negative impact on the establishment of teacher-student relationship?

No negative effects.

  1. If possible, please share an example of a teacher’s impact on students’ psychological and emotional aspects

Once helped a student treat failure correctly and establish an optimistic attitude.

  1. What do you think are the advantages of artificial intelligence replacing teachers?

Artificial intelligence can store more knowledge and more comprehensive knowledge, so it is better than teachers in teaching knowledge.

  1. What do you think are the disadvantages of artificial intelligence replacing teachers?

In the face of individual students’ psychological and other problems, artificial intelligence is not as good as teachers.

  1. If the future technology is sufficiently developed, do you think teachers will be replaced by artificial intelligence? Why?

Can’t. Preaching and teaching karma to solve doubts. Among them, preaching is the first, and artificial intelligence still cannot surpass teachers.

Publics and Counterpublics

This is the artwork I choose to analyze: https://creative-capital.org/projects/4mx-greenhouse/

Who created it:

This artwork is created by Jordan Weber, a land sculptor and activist. It is also created by local communities who participated in bring and growing plants in the greenhouse Weber built.

For whom:

For indigenous communities and black communities. For people who are polarized from food resources, green space and the act of collaboration.

With what materials:

the greenhouse itself was built with wood, glass, steel and other construction materials. There are also many plant pots for growing plants.

Metaphor:

The greenhouse is a secured and free space. People could seek comfort, heal wounds, and build a harmonious community in this space.

With what intention:

In many black communities, people are polarized from food resources and green space. This greenhouse provides a space for people to get together and collaborate. He also tries to raise environmental awareness by providing people opportunities to grow their own food, comparing to mono crops grew in industrial farmlands.

What impact, on whom, how:

By setting up more green spaces in the community, it affects human mental state, lowering crime rate. It also helped healing people in the community that are constantly wounded and traumatized. This green space serve as a safe space to be oneself and not be seen as a threat.

Public and counterpublic:

In this artwork, the public would be the black communities and the indigenous communities. The people in these communities are the primary participants of this greenhouse. They have similar life experiences, understand the artists intentions, and benefit most from this green space.

Ideas Arrangements Effects – response

This is a picture I took of a nucleic acid testing site. This nucleic acid test is used to test if a person got COVID or being a carrier of the COVID virus. To take this text, people first need to register their ID, the workers in the room will scan people’s ID card. Then you need to go to another window for the doctor to take your sample. In Beijing, people need to take this test every 72 hours in order to enter public places like restaurants and shopping malls.

Idea:

  • People should take this test regularly.
  • Government need to keep track of, control COVID.
  • People should monitor their own health condition, and keep away from getting infected.

Arrangements:

  • The location of the testing sites: the testing sites are mainly located near neighborhoods, making it more convenient for people to take the test.
  • Two windows serving different functions in order.
  • The windows only have small openings, preventing contaminations / potential virus from the outside.
  • The lines and facilitators organizing people’s behavior, guiding people to wait in lines and keep distance.
  • The setting of the entrance and exit. Only one way in and one way out.

Effects:

  • People passes this testing site everyday, and taking the test becomes a daily routine for people.
  • The doctors in the room are well protected.
  • People can register their ID and take the test smoothly, increasing the efficiency of taking the test, preventing people from gathering together and waiting in long lines.
  • Government is able to keep track of COVID situations, and is able to take quick actions whenever a positive case is found.

Topic 2 – Janky Prototypes

  • Prototype 1:

This is the note I wrote in class. MP3 player was the one I chose. In the sketch I made in class, I used the MP3 player as the instructor for the game. The game was suppose to be like monopoly or snakes and ladder, two or more players take turns to move on the map. Now instead of rolling a dice to determent the movements, the MP3 player will tell the speakers how to move and what to do. This simulates the process of facilitated activity, in which the game was fully controlled by the facilitator.

  • Prototype 2:

This is a board game I designed based on the rules of chess. I use numbered pieces from another board game to be the pieces in this “number chess” game. Different numbers have different abilities and ways to move. Unlike chess, the pieces are placed randomly on the board. There are no set rules for this chess, game, players have to come up with their own rules to play this game. This game simulates a learning situation without or lack of facilitation. Students have to self-regulate and learn things within the student learning group.

 

  • Prototype 3:

            

This is a small choosing book I made. Base on the answers to the questions, you can get different results. This prototype aims to simulate how computer programs make decisions. Different from human, which can generate countless questions and answers, a computer can only response to certain preprogrammed answers. This shows the limitation of not having a human teacher in the class.

Topic 2 – systems maps

In this map, I’m trying to analyze the effects of “teacher” in different ranges. I looked at different scopes, from the connection between teacher and individual student, to how teachers could affect students out of school, in the society.

This second map shows how a person learn in different level. A person can study on oneself, be influenced by one’s family, learns things in class, makes connections with peers in school, and finally steps into the society and learn from one’s social experiences.

Through these two maps, I’m looking at two different perspectives: teacher and student. Which leads to my topic of interest: what would happen if there were on longer teachers teaching in class. Could textbook, AI, technology, or other things take over the place of a teacher? What’s the advantage and disadvantage for having human teacher in a classroom.

Daily Practice – 6

I want to use this game to show the inefficiency and limitation of teachers in traditional pedagogy. The first player is like teachers in a classroom. You posses a lot of knowledge,  and you need to transmit your knowledge to students through language, and you need to let students understand what you mean.

Daily Practice – 5

In this game, I want to show the inequality in traditional classrooms. There are two positive feedback loops in this game. If you roll a big number at the beginning, you can add more points to you dice, which will make it easier for you to roll a big number next time. Thus your number will be bigger and bigger. Oppositely, if you roll a small number at the beginning, you will more likely to roll a small number in later attempts. In the end, you will get smaller and smaller points.