Public presentation on education and AI at UPEI on February 26
Members of the public are invited to attend a panel titled “Education in the Age of AI: Reimagining the Educational Landscape” on February 26, from 6:30 to 8:00 pm, in the Alex MacKinnon Auditorium (Room 242), Don and Marion McDougall Hall, UPEI.
Dr. Tess Miller, a professor in the UPEI Faculty of Education, and PhD students Rahula Samaran, Saniya Shaikh, and Xiaohan Yang, all of whom are doing research in AI, will give presentations on education and various aspects of AI.
“AI is changing the way we teach and learn,” said Miller. “This digital revolution is happening very fast, and people need help in understanding how, where, and when AI can be enhanced to support learning.”
Samaran will speak about mathematics and AI, focusing on promoting active learning over passive learning when using AI to support learning mathematics. A new approach of interacting with AI is introduced to help students develop their math skills rather than having AI produce the final answer to a math question.
Shaikh will demonstrate how AI can be incorporated with virtual reality, a combination that can create powerful, immersive learning environments.
Miller will address the assessment of student learning in the world of AI. To assess student learning in the world of AI, the way they are assessed needs to be reconsidered. Her presentation will remind people of how the use of the calculator impacted student assessment, and lead toward a discussion on how AI impacts the assessment of math and literacy.
In a presentation on the social aspects of AI, Yang will examine why adolescents are turning to generative AI for emotional support and what “simulated empathy” can and cannot offer. It highlights both potential benefits and key concerns, including overreliance, privacy, and harmful or misleading guidance.
Because some sections of the presentation include content about social AI, which is intended for an adult audience, parents and guardians are encouraged to make alternative arrangements for children.
