AI and voice-powered e-textbooks and e-books .

Abstract

Reading, whether as an end in itself as in language arts classes or as a means for learning when done through textbooks, has long been an integral part of classroom education. As much of the information world has moved online, so, too, have books followed. Unfortunately, commercially-available electronic textbooks (e-textbooks) and electronic books (e-books) are typically little more than .pdf versions of their paper counterparts, thus not exploiting other technologies that could be used to increase learning. The present paper describes technologies that use artificial intelligence (AI) and voice/natural language technologies to increase student learning in e-textbooks and e-books. As students learn a lesson, they can verbally ask the technology questions about the content and receive answers much the way they can when using personal assistants on smart phones. When students have completed the material, the technology assesses whether they have learned the material by verbally asking questions and allowing students to answer verbally. Any deficiencies are immediately remediated. When students finish the assessment in the e-textbook, they do practice problems as they would in a standard etextbook. The difference is that with the present technology, all work is done step-by-step on an electronic worksheet where the underlying AI technology monitors each step and provides hints when requested and feedback when mistakes are made. The present e-textbook technology was

Searching the e-dessert: a post-critical reflection on e-textbooks for early childhood education

“…W eksperymencie badacze wykazali, że uczniowie korzystający z e-podręcznika wspomaganego technologią AI uzyskali czterokrotnie więcej punktów w teście końcowym niż uczniowie, którzy użytkowali zwykły e-podręcznik, będący jedynie wersją PDF papierowego odpowiednika (zob. Leddo i in. 2019).…”