Using Artificial Intelligence to Circumvent the Teacher Shortage in Special Education: A Phenomenological Investigation

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological research study was to understand district technology leaders’ receptivity to employing artificial co-teachers, based on their lived experiences with Artificial Intelligence (AI). Facing a problematic teacher shortage in special education, the Jade County School District was not readily employing available AI technologies such as IBM’s WATSON and MIT Media Lab’s TEGA, to aide in filling the instructional voids caused by special education teacher attrition. Veblen’s theory of technological determinism provided the necessary framework for this study, which focused on how district technology leaders described their willingness or apprehension to employ autonomous machines to independently instruct students with disabilities in the classroom. This research study was carried out in a large public-school district with a high number of special education teacher vacancies. Purposeful sampling was used to recruit 11 district-level technology leaders who were responsible for developing and sharing a vision for how new technology could be employed to support the needs of students. The principal researcher applied hermeneutic phenomenology to interpret data from photo-elicitations, audio-recorded focus groups, and individual interviews

Hacia una teoría crítica de la inteligencia artificial en el ámbito de la enseñanza

Artificial intelligence (AI) has gradually been integrated into major aspects of schooling and academic learning following breakthroughs in algorithmic machine learning over the past decade. Interestingly, history shows us that as new technologies become perceived as ‘normal’ they fade into uncritical aspects of institutions. Considering that schools produce and reproduce social practices and normative behavior through both explicit and implicit codes, the introduction of AI to classrooms can reveal much about schooling. Nevertheless, artificial intelligence technology (specifically new machine learning applications) has yet to be properly framed as a lens with which to critically analyze and interpret school-based inequities. Recent education discourse focuses more on practical applications of technology than on the institutional inequalities that are revealed when analyzing artificial intelligence technology in the classroom. Accordingly, this paper advances the case for a critical artificial intelligence theory as a valuable lens through which to examine institutions, particularly schools. On the cusp of machine learning artificial intelligence becoming widespread in schools’ academic and hidden curricula, establishing a practical epistemology of artificial intelligence may be particularly useful for researchers and scholars who are interested in what artificial intelligence says about school institutions and beyond.A partir de los avances en el aprendizaje automático basado en algoritmos que han tenido lugar en la última década, la inteligencia artificial (IA) se ha integrado gradualmente en los principales aspectos de la escolarización y el aprendizaje académico. Curiosamente, la historia muestra cómo a medida que las nuevas tecnologías incrementan su presencia en la sociedad, se integran de forma naturalizada y acrítica en las instituciones. Teniendo en cuenta que las escuelas producen y reproducen prácticas sociales y comportamientos normativos mediante códigos explícitos e implícitos, la introducción de la IA en las aulas podría ser una importante fuente de información sobre las escuelas. Sin embargo, esta tecnología (específicamente sus nuevas aplicaciones en el campo del aprendizaje automático) todavía no se ha utilizado para mirar, analizar e interpretar críticamente las inequidades escolares. El discurso educativo actual está más centrado en las aplicaciones prácticas de la tecnología que en las desigualdades institucionales que muestra el análisis sobre cómo la tecnología digital se está insertando en las aulas. En consecuencia, este artículo defiende la necesidad de desarrollar una teoría crítica de la inteligencia artificial y sus posibilidades para estudiar las instituciones, particularmente las escuelas. En este momento cumbre de la inteligencia habitual y su fuerte presencia tanto en los planes de estudio académicos como en el ‘currículo oculto’, es fundamental establecer una epistemología práctica que permita a los investigadores y académicos estudiar las instituciones y sus implicaciones generales.A inteligência artificial tem sido gradualmente integrada nos principais aspectos da escolaridade e do aprendizado acadêmico após os avanços no aprendizado de máquinas algorítmicas (algorithmic machine learning) durante a última década. Curiosamente, a história nos mostra que à medida que as novas tecnologias se tornam percebidas como 'normais', elas se esvaem em aspectos acríticos das instituições. Considerando que as escolas produzem e reproduzem práticas sociais e comportamentos normativos através de códigos explícitos e implícitos, a introdução da IA (Inteligência Artificial) nas salas de aula pode revelar muito sobre educação. No entanto, a tecnologia de inteligência artificial (especificamente novas utilizações de aprendizagem de máquinas) ainda não foi devidamente configurada como uma lente para analisar e interpretar criticamente as iniquidades escolares. O recente discurso educacional se concentra mais nas aplicações práticas da tecnologia do que nas desigualdades institucionais que são reveladas ao analisar a tecnologia de inteligência artificial na sala de aula. Assim, este artigo defende uma teoria crítica da inteligência artificial como uma lente valiosa para examinar instituições, particularmente as escolas. Na ponta da aprendizagem da máquina de inteligência artificial difundida nos currículos acadêmicos e ocultos das escolas, estabelecer uma epistemologia prática da inteligência artificial pode ser particularmente útil para pesquisadores e estudiosos que estão interessados no que a inteligência artificial diz sobre as instituições escolares e além

A study of technological literacy in writing programs.

This dissertation empirically studies computer-assisted writing administration as a site of agency for social change by inquiring how writing program administrators (WPAs) use their agency and power when developing and maintaining computer-mediated spaces (CM) or computer-assisted instruction (CAI). This study asks, What are the results when individual agency meets technological literacy in the academic workplace? Numerous articles have examined WPAs as agents of social change (R. Miller, C. Selfe, M. Pemberton); few have used empirical data as their grounds. To date, no articles have examined the WPA\u27s agency with technological literacy in computer-mediated environments. This study utilizes triangulated and multi-modal research methods including site observations as well as interviews and email surveys with WPAs, students, technicians, and non-departmental stakeholders. The study assumes that WPAs act as administrative agents who use their agency to move beyond the role of functionaries such as boss compositionists (Sledd in Harris, 2000) or academic bureaucrats (R. Miller, 1988). Special features of this dissertation include original primary data on WPA decision-making, education, compensation. Preliminary data show the following: WPAs report using their agency when managing technology use for departments and institutions; 70 percent of WPAs report that their technological literacy affords them power in their departments; 70 percent of WPAs state that their technological literacy has improved their relations with students; most WPAs receive little compensation for their technological skills other than salary; and search and screen committees increasingly require technology proficiency of their writing faculty. WPAs should take into consideration managerial trends: faculty who resist CAI professional development because they are in the retirement track arguments that position CAI as a Technology vs. X false dilemma ( We can support either labor and people or technology ); assumptions that link technology with democracy and unexamined grand social narratives; and the conflation of technological literacy with critical technological literacy This data suggests that job skills and intellectual contributions of WPAs who work with CAI are not fully recognized and compensated in departments and contribute to a rise in invisible labor. The dissertation includes the following chapters: (I) Introduction: Shoulders to Stand On and the Work Already Done in Computer-Mediated Writing; (II) The Discourse on Technological Literacy: A Bakhtinian Reading of the National Infrastructure Initiative; (III) What WPAs Say about Their Work as a Site of Agency; (IV) Results from Online Survey of WPAs and Technological Literacy; and (V) Conclusion and Supplementary Materials

Advancing Ehealth Education for the Clinical Health Professions

This is the final report of a project that aimed to encourage and support program coordinators and directors of Australian undergraduate and postgraduate coursework programs in all allied health, nursing and medical professions to address the need for Ehealth education for entry-level clinical health professionals

Attempting to Close the Digital Frontier: A Mixed-Methods Approach to the Study of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act

A mixed-methods approach was taken to study the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), recent legislation that would have considerable effects on the digital landscape. The combined methods help to define the problems underlying the legislation by defining stakeholders and isolating views from various media sources. The theoretical examinations of landscape studies, communications geography and Panopticism combined with methodology in political geography, and media analysis helps to develop a multi-angled view of the current perspective on the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act. Landscape studies, with roots in Sauer\u27s seminal work, The Morphology of Landscape, contributed to the narrative of the research by helping to construct a sense of place. Communications geography and critical GIS help to ground the digital landscape in the field of geography. Political geography and the choropleth map illustrate the spatial patterns of politics surrounding the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, concluding that widespread approval of the legislation in the House of Representatives spans mostly rural Republican areas, while lack of support comes from more Democratic areas. Discourse analysis and term frequency analysis assist in the utilization of the internet as text, evaluating media responses to the legislation. Overall, the three media type nodes analyzed included mainstream media, personal blogs, and tech blogs. These nodes had a homogeneous view against the proposed legislation with subtle differences in word frequency around one percent of the corpus. The media corpus was then analyzed against the legislation\u27s word frequency, showing remarkable differences. For example, the word privacy occurred close to thirty percent in CISPA compared to the one percent in the media corpus. Reading through the documents, a consensus was made that though the legislation mentions protecting the privacy of internet users, it lacks methods to ensure it, which was one of the defining problems that has prevented the legislation\u27s passage in the Senate

The BG News February 6, 1996

The BGSU campus student newspaper February 6, 1996. Volume 78 - Issue 91https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/bg-news/6959/thumbnail.jp