eLearning platforms have rapidly grown in importance as essential tools for teaching. However, it is the advent of AI-powered solutions that has really changed the game. Tai Kok Tsui Catholic Primary School (TKTCPS) has adopted a forward-thinking approach by incorporating AI learning tools and big data analysis into their daily teaching and learning practices. This pioneering initiative empowers teachers with a comprehensive understanding of students' learning progress, enabling them to tailor instructional content and methodologies with pinpoint precision that cater to the unique needs and learning styles of each student; meanwhile, students are empowered to take ownership of their educational journey with a real-time feedback system. The result? A remarkable improvement in learning efficacy.
Being at the forefront of eLearning for more than a decade, the school is no stranger to these platforms and has utilised various publisher-provided ones for certain subject areas. Principal Chow Tak Fai, shared the school’s latest endeavour in the 2022/23 academic year, introducing the ‘AI-powered Self-Learning Platform’ spearheaded by HKU Business School for its extensive resources beyond the textbooks. Building upon this momentum, the school adopted another innovation, the ‘APLus platform’ (APLus), chosen for its strong alignment with the textbook-based curriculum.
(Principal Chow mentioned that the school began incorporating AI learning platforms in daily teaching practices two years ago.)
(During the interview, Mr Hsu Sheung Kwong, Curriculum Leader, discussed the school's firsthand experience with various e-learning platforms.)
AI Tailors Questions Based on Student Abilities
Four years ago, at the height of the pandemic, the demand for eLearning witnessed an unprecedented surge, leading to a cornucopia of new eLearning solutions flooding the market. While outlining the school's three-year development plan, Mr. Hsu placed significant emphasis on two key areas: fostering students' self-learning abilities and harnessing AI-powered platforms to facilitate independent learning. In the previous academic year, the school adopted the self-study platform developed by HKU Business School for core subjects: Chinese, English, and Mathematics. The curriculum leader praised the platform's extensive repertoire of question types, covering both local and international curricula. As students complete each question, the AI algorithm assesses their capabilities and tailors subsequent questions to their skill level. Those who answer correctly will be presented with more advanced questions, while those who stumble over incorrect answers will receive additional practice through similar questions. While the platform provides a range of preset questions, he flagged up the unique nature of each school's learning priorities. With this in mind, subject teachers are tasked with mapping out specific learning objectives and customising the platform accordingly.
(Upon completing a question, students are presented with an assessment report that enables them to gauge their learning progress. Additionally, they have the option to access answer explanations, which shed light on the intricacies of the questions and offer valuable strategies for tackling them.)
(By utilising the Intelligent Tutoring feature, students can receive personalised exercises of various question types, as if they have an AI assistant to guide them in training, grading, and designing practice exercises.)
Promote Self-Study with Video-Assisted Learning
This academic year, the school made the switch to APLus, a question bank that enables the creation of customised sets of questions according to the chosen textbooks and teaching progress. It breaks down the learning objectives and challenging areas in a comprehensive manner. Mr Hsu likened the question bank to a meticulously organised cabinet of Chinese herbal medicines, effortlessly allowing teachers to curate the most fitting questions, after taking into account students’ correct and incorrect response rates. Furthermore, the system offers valuable insights into homework submissions and grade distributions, allowing teachers to evaluate the performance of both the entire class and individual students for each learning objective. The reports, according to Mr. Hsu, provide teachers with a nuanced understanding of their strengths, weaknesses, and overall academic progress across diverse subject matters. For instance, in the case of mathematics, he remarked, ‘When I see that most students have answered the mean questions correctly in the system, I don't need to spend excessive time explaining it in class.’ Additionally, based on students' performance, the platform offers self-paced videos to help them master relevant topics.
The curriculum leader also said that the platform makes life easier for teachers as its automated grading feature effectively reduces their workload. Despite the numerous benefits brought about by eLearning platforms, he wisely pointed out the need for a harmonious balance of physical assignments and online resources to avoid overwhelming students with an excessive amount of homework. As a result, these eLearning platforms currently serve primarily as tools for teachers to collect data. Only during long breaks, will the school assign eLearning homework to them to ensure they can have sufficient time to complete their assignments.
(The dashboard presents an overview of students' performance in different assignments so that teachers can better grasp the diverse needs of students in the classroom.)
(It also showcases the learning progress of individual students.)
(Self-learning resources such as self-paced videos are available on the platform.)
Constructing a Personalised Learning Path
Assistant General Manager Mr. Terence Tam of Pan Lloyds Group, the company behind APLus, said that the platform combines their expertise in publishing supplemental exercises with adaptive learning technologies. 'Distilling the key concepts from the vast majority of textbooks available in the market and expanding the range of question types, APLus can adjust the difficulty level of questions,' Mr. Tam went on to say, 'The question progression depends on students' capabilities. That is, once students take the pre-test, their findings will be used to figure out where they excel and where they need to work. When a student answers a question correctly, the system algorithm prompts them with more challenging questions. Conversely, students who answer incorrectly receive easier questions targeting their weak spots, as well as matching self-study videos to ensure their mastery of key concepts.'
(Left: Mr Terence Tam, Assistant General Manager; Right: Mr CY Li, Publishing Manager)
APLus distinguishes itself from other platforms, as highlighted by Mr. Li, the Publishing Manager, due to its exceptional learning analysis reports. These reports are divided into short-term, medium-term, and long-term assessments, offering a comprehensive evaluation framework. The short-term report allows teachers to view class-wide and individual students' homework submission status, grade distribution, and more. The medium-term report, generated from accumulated data, illustrates students' mastery of each learning objective. He suggested that teachers conduct medium-term reviews every few weeks to a month to adjust their instructional materials. As for the long-term report, he believed it is particularly useful for test preparation, where teachers can address students' weaknesses and ‘fill in the gaps’. The system adeptly maintains comprehensive records of students' learning progress throughout the years, which serves as valuable data for curriculum development and enables the school to make well-informed decisions. For students, these reports provide a thorough picture of their academic performance, indicating areas where they excel and places for improvement, allowing them to take responsibility for their learning journey and make targeted efforts to boost their proficiency.
(The platform maintains a comprehensive database of student errors.)
(An in-depth analysis will be performed to analyse both the monthly rate of growth in students' overall performance and their performance in specific subjects.)
Future e-learning platforms, according to Mr. Tam's vision, should centre on quantitatively assessing students' performance through the use of data. Although he acknowledged that younger pupils may lack the skills necessary for self-directed learning, he also raised attention to the fact that this approach is heavily emphasized in today's classrooms. He proposed teaching students how to ask insightful questions and other skills that would allow them to effectively use AI tools as a solution to this problem.