The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) has announced a significant expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) efforts within the field of education. This development, unveiled today, aims to ensure that AI-driven educational tools adhere to rigorous research and best practices in teaching and learning. CZI's efforts include the launch of two new AI developer tools designed to aid developers in seamlessly integrating high-quality educational content into their platforms.
The new tools, named Knowledge Graph and Evaluators, serve distinct yet interconnected purposes. Knowledge Graph assists developers in enhancing the inputs for AI systems by aligning them with established learning science research, state academic standards, and relevant curricula. Meanwhile, Evaluators enable developers to assess the outputs of AI systems to guarantee that they meet the accuracy and quality essential for effective teaching and learning. “With the rapid growth of artificial intelligence, improving the quality of outputs from large language models is increasingly important–especially where student learning and outcomes are involved,” remarked CZI’s Head of Education, Sandra Liu Huang.
In addition to launching these private beta tools, CZI also announced the establishment of an Education Advisory Board. This board is comprised of a diverse group of experts from various fields, including education, data privacy, artificial intelligence, and educational technology. The board's primary goal is to guide CZI's initiatives in advancing AI's role in transforming educational practices and enhancing outcomes for students.
The full list of Advisory Board members includes notable figures such as Dan Carroll, former Chief Product Officer and co-founder of Clever; Richard Culatta, CEO of ISTE+ASCD; and Alina von Davier, Chief of Assessment at Duolingo. The collective experience of these members is expected to support CZI in integrating cutting-edge technology with pedagogical strategies.
Developers participating in the initial private beta phase include Playlab and Diffit, who are piloting these new tools to refine their AI-based educational offerings. According to a CZI spokesperson, there is a pressing need to address the challenge posed by the potential inaccuracies of AI outputs, which may appear correct but lack substantive accuracy. They stated, “One of the challenges right now is that AI outputs might look right but there could be inaccuracies with them. And so we think one of the 1st steps in making Gen. AI more pedagogically aligned–more useful in the classroom–is to actually measure the quality that it’s returning.”
Through the Knowledge Graph tool, CZI is launching with two key datasets; these include a high-quality, openly licensed core math curriculum developed in collaboration with Illustrative Math and academic standards sourced from all 50 states via a partnership with 1EdTech. The Evaluators tool is developed with insights from academic experts fielded to assist edtech developers in closing gaps in student reading skills, evaluated through a Rubric for Literature from Student Achievement Partners.
CZI’s goal with these initiatives is to co-create educational solutions alongside educators, providing technology developers with the necessary resources to build research-driven AI solutions that are capable of addressing the day-to-day challenges faced in educational settings.
Source: Noah Wire Services