An unusual opportunity for adult numeracy teachers

Hello numeracy and math teaching colleagues,
 
We may have an unusual opportunity to get IBM interested in adult numeracy. They have a free numeracy website called Teacher Advisor with Watson, designed for K-8, and focusing on numeracy. It is based on the enormous Artificial Intelligence capacity of IBM's Watson computers.
 
I am currently hosting a week-long panel in the LINCS Integrating Technology and Program Management groups on Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. One of the panelists is the person at IBM responsible for Teacher Advisor, Cliff Archey. See his bio in the description of this panel below.
 
Yesterday I posted this to the discussion:
 
"Integrating Technology and Program Management group members: I wonder if adult basic skills math teachers who might be part of this discussion could take a look at Teacher Advisor With Watson and ask questions or comment about the potential usefulness of this free service in adult basic skills math classes."
 
Cliff responded:
 
"David, thanks! On the point about having adult basic skills math teachers taking a look at Teacher Advisor, we'd certainly welcome any questions/comments on the IBM side! We've built that tool in partnership with elementary and middle school math teachers and instructional  coaches over the past 3 years, but find that when parents of students who are struggling with the new academic standards in math encounter our content and searchability, they really like it and have a better understanding of how math is supposed to be taught in modern classrooms. So, would love to know what the Integrating Technology and Program Management group members think!"
 
I would like to invite you to take a look at Teacher Advisor with Watson and, if you think it has some merit for adult numeracy teachers and learners, to join in the discussion today with your comments and questions about it. Although the discussion lasts through Friday, the focus on AI (including Teacher Advisor with Watson) ends today. Of course you can post questions and comments any time through Friday.
 
I am not suggesting that Teacher Advisor with Watson is ideal, but if you think it has merit, I invite you to engage in dialogue about it with Cliff that might lead to adaptation to make it useful for adult learners. We rarely have this kind of opportunity in our field.
 
For instructions on how to join the LINCS Integrating technology or Program Management group go to https://community.lincs.ed.gov/help/how-do-i-join-or-leave-group If you have questions about this, you can email me directly.
 
David J. Rosen, Moderator
LINCS Integrating Technology and Program Management groups
 
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During the week of October 14th the LINCS Integrating Technology and Program Management groups will host a weeklong asynchronous discussion with a cutting- edge panel of experts in education applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR).  An important professional development feature of LINCS is to keep you current with innovations in the adult basic skills field. K-12 education and higher education have been exploring teaching and learning applications of Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality for several years, although this is relatively new to adult basic skills education practitioners.  This is an opportunity for LINCS members, and others who may be interested, to learn about and discuss examples of innovations in AI, VR and AR that have been specifically designed for adult learners, or that have been designed for K-12 students, and have promise for adult basic skills learners. 

The expert panel includes:

  • Art Graesser, PhD. Department of Psychology and Institute of Intelligent Systems, University of Memphis.  Dr. Graesser is a professor in the Department of Psychology and the Institute of Intelligent Systems at the University of Memphis and is an Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Education at the University of Oxford.  Art Graesser and his University of Memphis colleagues, working with the Center for the Study of Adult Literacy at Georgia State University, have developed and tested the use of AutoTutor, an intelligent tutoring system that holds conversations with adult learners in natural language.
  • Susan Gaer. An emeritus professor of English, specializing in ESL at Santa Anna College in Southern California, Susan Gaer has been a subject matter expert and technology integration professional development specialist for OTAN, California’s statewide adult basic skills technology professional development organization. She is a partner of World Education’s Education Technology Center, and is also President Elect of the California Association of Teachers to Speakers of Other Languages (CATESOL). She has focused on using VR with ESL students from beginning to advanced levels.
  • Cliff Archey.  As Senior Education Program Manager for IBM Corporate Social Responsibility, in his current role Cliff is the Offering Manager for Teacher Advisor With Watson, managing the strategic direction and implementation of this free AI-enhanced planning tool for teachers.
  • Johan E. Uvin, Ph.D. As President, Institute for Educational Leadership, Dr. Uvin’s work in the field of adult basic skills education, including ESOL/ESL includes positions as an ESOL teacher and program administrator in Boston, an associate state director of adult education in Massachusetts, a state director of adult education in Rhode Island, and as Assistant Secretary of Education in the U.S. Department of Education. He first engaged in Virtual Reality work when he represented the federal government on a Virtual and Augmented Reality Summit where he promoted the use of VR for training and development purposes. He subsequently provided oversight to the EdSim Challenge. Most recently, he has been working with Oculus to expand VR applications in the education sector, particularly focused on creating access to hardware and applications in communities where children, youth, and adults never get to access these new emerging technologies due to lack of resources.
  • Robert Murphy, Ph. D. is a Senior Policy Researcher at the RAND Corporation. Before joining RAND, Dr. Murphy was the director of evaluation research for SRI International’s Center for Technology in Learning where he was the Principle Investigator for the Technologies for Adult Basic Literacies Evaluation (TABLE) study. He was a panelist in the 2016 LINCS Discussion, Recent Research on Technology and Adult Basic Skills. Dr. Murphy’s research focuses on research and evaluation of innovative educational and workforce training programs and technologies. He is author of Artificial Intelligence Applications to Support K–12 Teachers and Teaching, A Review of Promising Applications, Opportunities, and Challenges.

Comments

I searched for "times tables" and didn't get anything but "facts" got me links to "practice," I could downloand and  which included lots of representation of what facts mean, which I appreciate.   There was  mention of developing fluency in small print at the bottom -- and a dead link to a teacher's guide that included the phrase "dothemath" which would be the program from Marilyn Burns which is awesome... but I can't find a better link. 

I'll be exploring more ;)