How an AI tutor is helping IU to embrace technology and enhance learning

AI is here to stay and it’s bringing a whole new level of technological opportunities to the classroom, to research and to students. As Bill Gates once said: “The development of AI is as fundamental as the creation of the microprocessor, the personal computer, the internet and the mobile phone. It will change the way people work, learn, travel, get healthcare and communicate with each other. Entire industries will reorient around it. Businesses will distinguish themselves by how well they use it”.

The importance of AI

This fundamental shift will not only affect what and how the next generations of students will learn, it will also affect the graduate skillsets sought by employers. Therefore, universities across the globe will need to analyse how they can exploit the benefits AI can bring to classrooms and revise their curricula in a way that takes AI’s role in future employment settings into account. Students will need to be ready to work alongside and in close collaboration with intelligent machines. They will also need to be able to optimise and train those machines continually. It is up to us, as leaders in higher education, to foster this process of adaptation, facilitate classroom adoption and curb any possibilities to plagiarise.

IU International University of Applied Sciences (IU) introduced dedicated AI programmes at postgraduate level in 2019, with its CEO Sven Schütt, who is a neuroscientist, advocating for early adoption by tech faculty. However, besides teaching AI, the school is determined to explore how it can be used for learning, particularly in engaging students of online programmes. Insights from our students and progression data suggested that learners would benefit from having a teaching assistant that is available to them 24/7. Therefore, our faculty, designers and data scientists set out on developing an application that could provide more personalised and adaptive tools for self-study in our online courses. This led to the creation of Syntea, IU’s very own learning buddy.

Syntea – an AI-powered teaching assistant

The school’s AI teaching assistant was developed and trained by a team of 50 led by director of synthetic teaching at IU and mathematician Quintus Stierstorfer. They started out by equipping Syntea with the skills to answer coursebook questions. This led to the provision of accurate responses using scientific scripts as a foundation. Later on, students were able to ask questions in a conversation-like setting and Syntea would respond based on the information provided in the coursebook.

Syntea was trained on academic, peer-reviewed classroom material to limit noise and exclude hallucinations. In its responses, it references the relevant part in the learning material and highlights where the information stems from. It also offers creatively generated examples for models or cases discussed in the coursebook that are then fact-checked by professors before being forwarded to the student.

Syntea now offers three types of learning experience – through its question-answering (Q&A) tool, engaging in deep dialogue and a exam trainer, with students able to use it as a study partner for their upcoming exams whenever they want.

The impact on students and classrooms

Syntea has been adopted by students at high rates. Student feedback on the availability and quality of assistance, clarifications and exam preparation has been enthusiastic. This year alone, Syntea has already answered more than four million student questions, created and corrected thousands of mock exams and converted seminar content into quiz questions.

With many routine enquiries now addressed by Syntea, faculty members can allocate more time to meaningful interactions with students, focusing on higher order thinking skills, mentoring and the provision of personalised guidance. Professors report a much lower number of low-level questions throughout the class, as many questions on materials or syllabi can be tackled by Syntea. Students also train their prompting skills through interactions with the chatbot, adding another important skill to their repertoire.  Furthermore, Syntea learns from each interaction, becoming smarter and smarter over time.

As mentioned, Syntea can also act as an exam trainer, with limitless test banks relating to course material available to help students prepare for exams. Here, Syntea aims to serve as a Socratic teacher and is equipped with a refined learner’s aptitude adaptation algorithm. It doesn't simply offer textbook answers, but rather tries to achieve learning goals through a Socratic dialogue, determining the level and weaknesses of each student with precision. To begin with, students are asked simple questions on the relevant material. Based on their responses, Syntea will then provide additional material, point students to concepts they might want to review again, or provide feedback on their progress. It can even provide links to other resources to encourage independent research.

Wider benefits and looking ahead

Syntea’s successful implementation has had a big impact on the university, with administrative departments such as enrolment and IT support integrating it into their processes. It can now help guide potential students through the enrolment process, provide technical support and filter information from a wide range of policies and university resources efficiently.

AI technologies are like a multicooker: they can do much of the work, but a brilliant chef is still required to dream up the recipe (and do the necessary shopping). That’s why it’s so important to have the skills required to use AI as a complementary tool. We therefore encourage the use of tools such as ChatGPT as learning and administrative aids. Regardless of their major, all our students have access to prompting classes and AI electives on natural language processing, computer vision, deep learning, unsupervised learning or theory of mind. Similarly, various initiatives, including training sessions, masterclasses, workshops and research, ensure that our faculty and staff stay at the forefront of technological advancements with AI integration supported across all organisational levels.

IU takes pride in having the second-highest proportion of female professors among German universities (at the time of writing). From professors of mathematical science and experts in AI to the most senior levels of management, women are well-represented across all levels of the institution and AI offers the potential to further our commitment to equal opportunities. For example, we offer scholarships to students and career sponsorship for women in STEM. At the heart of this is the Young Women in STEM incubator run by a group of female IU professors who are continually researching, theorising, publishing and contributing to the body of expertise.

Ultimately, education should embrace the tremendous pace at which AI is developing and direct its power towards improving teaching and learning. We should see AI as a complementary force to enhance students’ abilities through adaptive training opportunities, lower barriers that impede progress and equip students with prompting skills by using a playful learning approach. AI is revolutionising the way we study and work and it is our duty as educators to prepare students for the fast-changing, volatile and sometimes uncertain real-world environment.