AI Education: Birds of a Feather

Games are beautifully crafted microworlds that invite players to explore complex terrains that spring into existence from even simple rules. As AI educators, games can offer fun ways of teaching important concepts and techniques. Just as Martin Gardner employed games and puzzles to engage both amateurs and professionals in the pursuit of Mathematics, a well-chosen game or puzzle can provide a catalyst for AI learning and research. [excerpt

TOWARDS A WITTGENSTEINEAN LADDER FOR THE UNIVERSAL VIRTUAL CLASSROOM (UVC)

The aim of this work is to move from the foreign dominated to the self-dominated by encouraging people to draw their own conclusions with the help of own rational consideration. Here a room as an environment that is encouraging innovation, which can be denoted as “Innovation Lab”, and making processes as can be regarded as “Smart Lab” is an essential base. The question related to this generalized self-organizational learning method investigated in our paper is how a UVC, which is a room that connects people from different physical places to one synchronous and virtual perceivable place, which is built on these preconditions, can be operated both resource and learning-efficient for both the course participants and the educational organization. A practical approach of implementing a virtual classroom concept, including informative tutorial-feedback, is developed conceptually that also accounts for and implements the results of reinforcement machine-learning methods in AI applications. The difference that makes the difference is gained by reimplementing the AI tools in an AI instrument, in a “Smart Lab” environment and that in the teaching environment. By means of this, a cascaded feedback-loop system is informally installed, which gains feedback at different levels of abstraction. By this learning on each stage, in a collaborative and together decentralized and sequential fashion takes place, as the selforganizational implementations lead implicitly, also by means of the in the course implemented tools, to increasingly self-control. As such in the course, a tool is implemented, as generalizations by means of reinforcement learnings are to be emergently foreseen by this method, which goes beyond the tools, that have already been implemented before. This AI-enhanced learning coevolution shall then, predictively, as well increase the potential of the course participants as the educational organization according to the Wittgensteinean parable: A ladder leading into a selfly-organized future

Concurrent processing in cloud-based AppInventor development environment

AppInventor (AI) has recently become the language of choice for learning to program. How suitable is it for teaching undergraduates? How efficient are the programs that are developed with AI? Is it likely to replace Andoid development with the Android Development Tools? How can AI Apps be made to execute as efficiently as Possible? AI is an innovative approach to learning to program and has reduced typical development time by 90%. This paper examines the reasons for AI’s popularity as a first programming language, the inherent inefficiencies and the way in which the lack of threads can be overcome

Using appreciative inquiry to frame the appraisal of an Australian initial teacher education program

This paper reports on a study that investigated the process and outcomes of using Appreciative Inquiry (AI) in an Australian initial teacher education (ITE) program review. The aim of the study, which drew on a sample of teaching staff involved in this Master of Teaching program, was to gain an understanding of the extent to which the application of the AI framework can be used effectively in the review of ITE programs. AI promotes collegial reflective practice and the generation of positive resolutions and thus aligned with the purposes of the review that were to foster collaboration, strengthen staff morale and, subsequently, build a stronger program for students. This paper provides a perceptual account of the AI review process as reported by the facilitators and a sample of review participants, and contributes to international literature in the areas of ITE program appraisal, organisational reform and Appreciative Inquiry

AI-based teaching package for open channel flow on Internet

Author name used in this publication: Kwokwing Chau2003-2004 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalAccepted ManuscriptPublishe

Affective and cognitive prefrontal cortex projections to the lateral habenula in humans

Anterior insula (AI) and dACC are known to process information about pain, loss, adversities, bad, harmful or suboptimal choices and consequences that threaten survival or well-being. Pain and loss activate also pregenual ACC (pgACC), linked to sad thoughts, hurt and regrets. The lateral habenula (LHb) is stimulated by predicted and received pain, discomfort, aversive outcome, loss. Its chronic stimulation makes us feel worse/low and gradually stops us choosing and moving for suboptimal, hurtful or punished choices, by direct and indirect (via RMTg) inhibition of DRN and VTA/SNc. Response selectivity of LHb neurons suggests their cortical input from affective and cognitive evaluative regions that make expectations about bad or suboptimal outcomes. Based on these facts I predicted direct corticohabenular projections from the dACC, pgACC and AI, as part of the adversity processing circuit that learns to avoid bad outcomes by suppressing dopamine and serotonin signal. Using DTI I found dACC, pgACC, AI, adjacent caudolateral and lateral OFC projections to LHb. I predicted no corticohabenular projections from the reward processing regions: medial OFC and vACC because both respond most strongly to good, high value stimuli and outcomes, inducing serotonin and dopamine release respectively. This lack of LHb projections was confirmed for vACC and likely for mOFC. The surprising findings were the corticohabenular projections from the cognitive prefrontal cortex regions, known for flexible reasoning, planning and combining whatever information are relevant for reaching current goals. I propose that prefrontohabenular projections provide a teaching signal for value-based choice behaviour, to learn to deselect, avoid or inhibit the potentially harmful, low valued or wrong choices, goals, strategies, predictions, models and ways of doing things, to prevent bad or suboptimal consequences.Comment: I renamed the medioventral part of the anterior thalamus via which the PFC to LHb fibre tracts from ventral anterior (AV) to medial anterior thalamic region. Apologies for that. My co-author decided to remove his nam

The Virtual University and Avatar Technology: E-learning Through Future Technology

E-learning gains increasingly importance in academic education. Beyond present distance learning technologies a new opportunity emerges by the use of advanced avatar technology. Virtual robots acting in an environment of a virtual campus offer opportunities of advanced learning experiences. Human Machine Interaction (HMI) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) can bridge time zones and ease professional constraints of mature students. Undergraduate students may use such technology to build up topics of their studies beyond taught lectures. Objectives of the paper are to research the options, extent and limitations of avatar technology for academic studies in under- and postgraduate courses and to discuss students' potential acceptance or rejection of interaction with AI. The research method is a case study based on Sir Tony Dyson's avatar technology iBot2000. Sir Tony is a worldwide acknowledged robot specialist, creator of Star Wars' R2D2, who developed in recent years the iBot2000 technology, intelligent avatars adaptable to different environments with the availability to speak up to eight different languages and capable to provide logic answers to questions asked. This technology underwent many prototypes with the latest specific goal to offer blended E-learning entering the field of the virtual 3-D university extending Web2.0 to Web3.0 (Dyson. 2009). Sir Tony included his vast experiences gained in his personal (teaching) work with children for which he received his knighthood. The data was mainly collected through interviews with Sir Tony Dyson, which helps discover the inventor’s view on why such technology is of advantage for academic studies. Based on interviews with Sir Tony, this research critically analyses the options, richness and restrictions, which avatar (iBot2000) technology may add to academic studies. The conclusion will discuss the opportunities, which avatar technology may be able to bring to learning and teaching activities, and the foreseeable limitations – the amount of resources required and the complexity to build a fully integrated virtual 3-D campus. Key Words: virtual learning, avatar technology, iBot2000, virtual universit