AGI







Project duration:
Feb 2023- April 2023

Team Members:
Coco Wang- Product Designer/Video Editor
Theo Usher- Engineer/Actor/Voiceover
Cathy Fan- Engineer/Actor

The Problem:


As mentioned in the video ⬆️⬆️⬆️(make sure you turn up the volume), it's common for high school teachers to instruct classes comprising 25 students or more in New York City. Grading assignments for such a large number of students consumes a significant amount of time. Despite dedicating at least five hours per week to grading assignments, teachers often find it challenging to provide in-depth feedback beyond marking incorrect answers and assigning final scores. This deficiency in valuable feedback discourages students' ability to learn from their errors.








Territory Research


To identify potential pain points, a round of initial research is conducted with the following findings:

  • Average high school class size is about 26 students in NYC compared to 23.3 students on average in the US
    • Additionally, New York City has one of the most unequal education systems in the country.

  • Difficulties for teachers with large classes:
    • Limited attention for individual students
    • Hard to keep all students engaged and focused
    • Grading workload means less feedback
    • Hard to plan a curriculum that is suitable for all students who may have different learning needs
    • Alleviate mental stress for teachers - only 40% of NY teachers stay on long enough to get a pension

  • Reducing class size is extremely expensive and can lead to lower quality teachers

  • Teacher shortage from a decrease in education graduates. This is a national problem that was made worse with COVID, with most public schools are saying that the hardest part of hiring is too few candidates.

  • Importance of helping teachers teach large STEM class:
    • STEM courses are the most promising subjects (could give students advantage in college application, job market, etc.)
    • Students in STEM education in high schools are more likely to enroll in college.
    • Improve learning outcomes/ better education quality










Evaluation And Choice


Based on the prior findings on some current issues high school teachers and students are facing, we came up with 3 ideas.

AI Grader

Chatbot

Group Organizer



Then we presented these ideas to three of our stakeholders and did a round of ethnographic interviews to learn more about their experience in teaching and the use of ed tech, as well as getting their feedback on the ideas.





Based on the feedbacks, we decide to pursue the idea of AI Grader for the following reasons:

  • Enhance request handling for additional feedback
  • Simplify error correction processes
  • Address common challenges faced by educators
  • Expand analysis capabilities for homework, including question types and issue identification











Primary Research


Including our 3 stakeholders, we interviewed: 1 school nurse, 4 high school students, 1 head of school, 2 STEM teachers from public high schools in total to get their insights and pain points as well, and here are some main concerns we found:

Main concerns from students:
Need for Individualized Support:
- A desire for more one-on-one sessions with teachers.
Curriculum Pacing and Content:
- Differing opinions on curriculum difficulty. Diverse Learning Needs
-  Various learning styles in a large class.
Main concerns from teachers and administrators:
Teacher Workload and Experience:
- Concerns about heavy workloads and the difficulty of managing large classes.
- Teacher shortage and issue on hiring less experienced teachers for specialized subjects such as physics.
Student-Teacher Ratio:
- A low student-teacher ratio for a more personalized education experience.

The central theme presented on both sides:
1.  Student-Teacher Ratio Concern
2.  High Grading  Burden
3.  Need For Effective Feedback   Implied Solutions:
1.  More Efficient Grading System
2.  Alternative Assessment Method
3.  Feedback Mechanism










To Solve these pain points...


We designed AGI, a product that automatically grades assignments according to a teacher’s rubric, saving teachers 5 hours a week and providing students with timely, useful comments. Unlike other automatic graders, AGI gives students detailed, personalized feedback in their preferred language and links to resources, while teachers receive a summary of what students are struggling with.

















So how does AGI work?
















Some key features include...














Compared to other products in the market:








Explore Technology to make AGI even better,

Here are some steps that we want to consider in the future to elevate the capabilities of AGI:

- Incorporate audio recordings of classwork with voice recognition into the AI’s analysis of how students are doing. This suggestion, contributed by a principal, aims to diversify the types of input AGI can process, making it more versatile in assessing student performance.

- Spin off a version to help students who are stuck on homework or working on essay drafts. This iteration, suggested by a digital teacher, would offer guidance without providing direct answers, fostering independent learning and critical thinking skills.

- Use the information AGI has developed to analyzeand establish standardization while identifying areas in need of enhancement. This dual approach will help highlight successful strategies and pinpoint where resources are needed most, driving informed policy and curriculum development.





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©2024, created, edited and partially coded by Coco Wang.