On October 14, 2022 I will be giving a talk at the Deliberation4Good workshop in Cambridge.

Title: Automated Generation of Pedagogical Interventions in Dialogue-based Intelligent Tutoring Systems

Abstract: Despite artificial intelligence (AI) having transformed major aspects of our society, only a fraction of its potential has been explored, let alone deployed, for education. AI-powered learning can provide millions of learners with personalised, active and practical learning experiences, which are key to successful learning. This is especially relevant in the context of online learning platforms. In this talk, I will present the Korbit Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS), which provides a dialogue-based learning experience online. Specifically, Korbit relies on the Socratic tutoring method: presentation of learning material is followed by a series of questions and pedagogical interventions from the AI-tutor aimed at promoting deliberation, guiding the learner and setting the line of reasoning. I will describe the AI approaches that we use to provide learners with highly personalised and active learning experiences via dialogue. Finally, I will present and discuss the results of a comparative head-to-head study on learning outcomes for Korbit and a popular MOOC platform that follows a traditional model delivering content using lecture videos and multiple-choice quizzes. Our experiments demonstrate a significant increase in learning outcomes, with students on the Korbit platform showing higher course completion rates and achieving learning gains 2 to 2.5 times higher than students on an online platform who do not receive dialogue-based feedback. These results highlight the tremendous impact that can be achieved with a dialogue-based AI-powered system, making high-quality learning experiences available to millions of learners around the world.