{"677073":{"#nid":"677073","#data":{"type":"news","title":"AI Oral Assessment Tool Uses Socratic Method to Test Students\u0027 Knowledge","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA year ago, Ray Hung, a master\u2019s student in computer science, assisted Professor Thad Starner in constructing an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/news\/professor-deploying-anti-plagiarism-detection-tool-900-student-course\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003Eanti-plagiarism tool \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003Efor Starner\u2019s 900-student Intro to Artificial Intelligence (CS3600) course.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile the tool proved effective, Hung began considering ways to deter plagiarism and improve the education system.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPlagiarism can be prevalent in online exams, so Hung looked at oral examinations commonly used in European education systems and rooted in the Socratic method.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne of the advantages of oral assessments is they naturally hinder cheating. Consulting ChatGPT wouldn\u2019t benefit a student unless the student memorizes the entire answer. Even then, follow-up questions would reveal a lack of genuine understanding.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHung drew inspiration from the 2009 reboot of Star Trek, particularly the opening scene in which a young Spock provides oral answers to questions prompted by AI.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI think we can do something similar,\u201d Hung said. \u201cResearch has shown that oral assessment improves people\u2019s material understanding, critical thinking, and communication skills.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe problem is that it\u2019s not scalable with human teachers. A professor may have 600 students. Even with teaching assistants, it\u2019s not practical to conduct oral assessments. But with AI, it\u2019s now possible.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHung developed \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/socraticmind.com\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe Socratic Mind\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E with Starner, Scheller College of Business Assistant Professor Eunhee Sohn, and researchers from the Georgia Tech Center for 21st Century Universities (C21U).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Socratic Mind is a scalable, AI-powered oral assessment platform leveraging Socratic questioning to challenge students to explain, justify, and defend their answers to showcase their understanding.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe believe that if you truly understand something, you should be able to explain it,\u201d Hung said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere is a deeper need for fostering genuine understanding and cultivating high-order thinking skills. I wanted to promote an education paradigm in which critical thinking, material understanding, and communication skills play integral roles and are at the forefront of our education.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHung entered his project into the\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/tools-competition.org\/23-24-accelerating-and-assessing-learning-winners\/#:~:text=students%20with%20disabilities.-,Socratic%20Mind,-%7C%20Socratic%20Mind%20Inc\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E Learning Engineering Tools Competition\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, one of the largest education technology competitions in the world. Hung and his collaborators were among five teams that won a Catalyst Award and received a $50,000 prize.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBenefits for Students\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Socratic Mind will be piloted in several classes this semester with about 2,000 students participating. One of those classes is the Intro to Computing (CS1301) class taught by College of Computing Professor David Joyner.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHung said The Socratic Mind will be a resource students can use to prepare to defend their dissertation or to teach a class if they choose to pursue a Ph.D. Anyone struggling with public speaking or preparing for job interviews will find the tool helpful.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMany users are interested in AI roleplay to practice real-world conversations,\u201d he said. \u201cThe AI can roleplay a manager if you want to discuss a promotion. It can roleplay as an interviewer if you have a job interview. There are a lot of uses for oral assessment platforms where you can practice talking with an AI.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI hope this tool helps students find their education more valuable and help them become better citizens, workers, entrepreneurs, or whoever they want to be in the future.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHung said the chatbot is not only conversational but also adverse to human persuasion because it follows the Socratic method of asking follow-up questions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cChatGPT and most other large language models are trained as helpful, harmless assistants,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you argue with it and hold your position strong enough, you can coerce it to agree. We don\u2019t want that.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe Socratic Mind AI will follow up with you in real-time about what you just said, so it\u2019s not a one-way conversation. It\u2019s interactive and engaging and mimics human communication well.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEducational Overhaul\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003EC21U Director of Research in Education Innovation Jonna Lee and C21U Research Scientist Meryem Soylu will measure The Socratic Mind\u2019s effectiveness during the pilot and determine its scalability.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI thought it would be interesting to develop this further from a learning engineering perspective because it\u2019s about systematic problem solving, and we want to create scalable solutions with technologies,\u201d Lee said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI hope we can find actionable insights about how this AI tool can help transform classroom learning and assessment practices compared to traditional methods. We see the potential for personalized learning for various student populations, including non-traditional lifetime learners.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHung said The Socratic Mind has the potential to revolutionize the U.S. education system depending on how the system chooses to incorporate AI. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERecognizing the advancement of AI is likely an unstoppable trend. Hung advocates leveraging AI to enhance learning and unlock human potential rather than focusing on restrictions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe are in an era in which information is abundant, but wisdom is scarce,\u201d Hung said. \u201cShallow and rapid interactions drive social media, for example. We think it\u2019s a golden time to elevate people\u2019s critical thinking and communication skills.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor more information about The Socratic Mind and to try a demo, visit the project\u0027s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/socraticmind.com\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003Ewebsite\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EHung entered his project into the\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/tools-competition.org\/23-24-accelerating-and-assessing-learning-winners\/#:~:text=students%20with%20disabilities.-,Socratic%20Mind,-%7C%20Socratic%20Mind%20Inc\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E Learning Engineering Tools Competition\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, one of the largest education technology competitions in the world. Hung and his collaborators were among five teams that won a Catalyst Award and received a $50,000 prize.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Ray Hung, a CS master\u0027s student, has developed a tool called The Socratic Mind, an AI-powered oral assessment platform leveraging Socratic questioning"}],"uid":"36530","created_gmt":"2024-09-24 14:49:16","changed_gmt":"2024-10-16 18:04:49","author":"Nathan Deen","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-09-24T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-09-24T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"675079":{"id":"675079","type":"image","title":"socratic_mind _story graphic.jpg","body":null,"created":"1727189367","gmt_created":"2024-09-24 14:49:27","changed":"1727189367","gmt_changed":"2024-09-24 14:49:27","alt":"Socrates","file":{"fid":"258672","name":"socratic_mind _story graphic.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/09\/24\/socratic_mind%20_story%20graphic.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/09\/24\/socratic_mind%20_story%20graphic.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":205085,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/09\/24\/socratic_mind%20_story%20graphic.jpg?itok=Yvs3CRjJ"}}},"media_ids":["675079"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"50876","name":"School of Interactive Computing"}],"categories":[{"id":"42911","name":"Education"},{"id":"193158","name":"Student Competition Winners (academic, innovation, and research)"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"193860","name":"Artifical Intelligence"},{"id":"190865","name":"AI-ALOE"},{"id":"192863","name":"go-ai"},{"id":"9153","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"13481","name":"C21U"},{"id":"11807","name":"online education"},{"id":"193940","name":"college of lifetime learning"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193655","name":"Artificial Intelligence at Georgia Tech"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ENathan Deen\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECommunications Officer\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESchool of interactive Computing\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}