The Long Road to Diversity in Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Posted on by Emerging Technologies & Creativity Research Lab

Olaitan Kushimo

Image from https://www.theverge.com/

When I dialed my healthcare provider’s number to inquire about my prescriptions, I did not expect that I would communicate with a virtual assistant. However, I gave it a go as all my efforts to speak to a customer service representative fell out. 

“Please give me your date of birth,” the VA responded as I punched the numbers. 

“22nd April”, I replied, including my year of birth.  

‘I didn’t quite get that”, it replied.  

I tried again, which went on a few times until I finally dropped the phone out of frustration the next few minutes had me trying to understand what went wrong as I still could not connect to a human customer representative. 

Virtual assistants have been around for some time and are now used in day-to-day activities like performing simple tasks. Therefore, they must be trained to integrate into the different contexts of society today. Virtual assistants, also called AI Virtual Assistants, are examples of AI tools that have found their use in almost every aspect of human endeavor, for example, fashion, healthcare, communications, and education.  

It is a reasonable expectation that AI recognizes the diversity that exists in individuals and groups.

Despite AI’s positive impact on various sectors of society, it is also capable of replicating the systemic biases that exist in society.  

This raises a huge concern for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) issues in the sense that marginalized communities will be further underrepresented. Some examples of these biases include one in the opening paragraph of this essay where the virtual assistant could not recognize my African accent; others include facial recognition and, in hiring- in which case, several reports exist of algorithms favoring some groups over another. Considering that scholars of DEI have been advocating for a more inclusive society, there is little evidence of whether or not AI will contribute to limiting those biases. 

The question now becomes, how long will it take for DEI issues to become non-existent in society, and how do innovative technologies such as AI promote or reduce such biases? 

The following recommendations can contribute to reducing such biases: 

a. Ethical AI Design: 

Implementing ethical design principles is crucial for mitigating bias in AI systems. This includes diverse representation in development teams, identifying and addressing existing biases, continuous monitoring for biases, and transparent algorithms allowing external scrutiny. 

b. Regulatory Frameworks: 

Governments and industry bodies should establish clear regulatory frameworks to govern the ethical use of AI, ensuring that developers adhere to DEI principles. These regulations should promote transparency, accountability, and regular audits of AI systems. 

Conclusion 

AI has clearly been shown to offer positive impacts; however, its impact on DEI is still only emerging. By mitigating the existing biases, adopting ethical design principles, promoting diversity in development teams, and implementing robust regulatory frameworks, we can harness AI’s transformative power to advance DEI goals and build a more equitable future.  

References: 

 Buolamwini, J., & Gebru, T. (2018). “Gender Shades: Intersectional Accuracy Disparities in Commercial Gender Classification.” Proceedings of the 1st Conference on Fairness, Accountability and Transparency, 77-91. 

 Diakopoulos, N. (2016). “Accountability in Algorithmic Decision Making.” Communications of the ACM, 59(2), 56-62. 

 Smith, A. N., & Anderson, M. (2016). “AI, Robotics, and the Future of Jobs.” Pew Research Center. 

Immersive Technologies for Employee Training

Posted on by Emerging Technologies & Creativity Research Lab

By Oluwafikayo Adewumi

Image from freepik.com

Short Description: Employees expect to be productive and grow in their assigned roles. However, sometimes it becomes challenging, based on factors like strict work culture, unconducive work environment, lack of required skill set, etc. Immersive technology is not new; however, it is relatively new in the workspace and has yet to be explored as expected. This study focuses on immersive technology in the workspace and how it can improve employees’ training and productivity. 

Immersive technologies are called interaction through virtual, augmented, and mixed-reality technologies. However, according to Liu et al. (2021), immersive technologies go beyond visual interactions to leveraging “human interaction modalities such as hand or full-body gestures to make users feel in control of the virtual environment” (p. 139). Immersive technologies, therefore, have the potential to elevate training programs in the workplace. By elevating, these technologies can provide employees with a more engaging and interactive experience, allowing them to learn new skills in a safe, engaging, and controlled environment. 

Immersive technologies for training have gained significant attention in recent years. They provide a simulated environment that can be used to train individuals on a range of tasks (Mallam et al., 2019). These technologies have the potential to provide more realistic and engaging training experiences, particularly for complex and dangerous tasks, limiting the risk of being a first-timer (Lavrentieva et al., 2020). However, the effectiveness of using immersive technologies for training is still an area of active research. The post aims to share information on immersive technologies’ benefits, limitations, and best practices in the workplace environment.

Benefits

Immersive technologies have the potential to enhance the effectiveness of employee development by providing engaging and interactive training experiences that can improve authentic learning. One of the primary benefits is the provision of numerous opportunities to practice the necessary skills before performing the task. A study on healthcare professionals revealed that VR allowed users to explore and manipulate computer-generated simulations in real time to gain practical knowledge that could enhance their clinical practices (Kyaw et al., 2019). Similarly, pilots can use flight simulators to practice emergency procedures and improve their decision-making skills in a risk-free environment (Mekacher, 2019). These technologies have, therefore, created real-life learning experiences like hands-on experiences.

Another opportunity immersive technologies provide is to improve collaboration and communication in professional settings while maximizing time. With advanced virtual Reality, remote experts can offer professional advice and training through shared virtual workspaces. Multiple users can view and discuss the virtual object in the same physical place or collaborate remotely.  For example, architects and engineers can use VR to collaborate on designs and visualize projects in 3D (Metaverse Now, 2022). This allows for more efficient and effective communication than traditional methods, which often involve 2D drawings and physical models.

Limitations

Requires Additional Skills: Although some individuals are already familiar with using immersive technologies for other engaging activities like gaming and field trips, it is relatively new for professional development and often new and unfamiliar to the users. New technologies present challenges in usage and application (Velev & Zlateva, 2017).  Due to the unfamiliarity, the learning designers in that space would require additional training and support to ensure they are being used effectively. In addition, they would also have to train employees who would be interacting and collaborating in that space. 

Financial Implication: Immersive technologies have the potential to change the experiences of professional development and training; however, they also come with significant cost implications (Hoang et al., 2019). Immersive technologies require specialized hardware like VR headsets, AR glasses, AR Apps, high-performance computers, or mobile devices. The cost of these devices can be significant, primarily if an organization is investing in a large-scale deployment of immersive technology. Immersive technologies range from high-end to low-end, which can reduce the cost implication. However, other factors like content development in the immersive space, gadget purchasing, personnel training, and maintenance costs have financial implications. 

What are Best Practices?

What can be distilled from the literature is that there are various ways that companies are using immersive technologies to train employees. Below are samples of how immersive experiences are integrated into employee training:

  • Deployment of technical training  
  • Integration into situational training
  • Mitigation of cognitive overload 
  • Evaluation of the training program
  • Enhancement of Engagement

Conclusion

In conclusion, immersive technologies can deliver more exciting and efficient training experiences, especially for challenging and dangerous tasks. However, there are also restrictions and difficulties related to using these technologies, such as financial costs and technological constraints. To optimize the benefits and get around the limitations, it is recommended that organizations carefully consider the objective of the training and the unique training requirements before investing in immersive technologies. In addition, learning developers should design by considering the affordances and relevance of training when selecting technology. In essence, best practices should include and not be limited to choosing the appropriate technologies for training, applying the technologies to fit the learning situation, offering sufficient training and assistance, and assessing the training program’s effectiveness for improved programs. 

References

Hoang, D., Naderi, E., Cheng, R., & Aryana, B. (2019, July). Adopting immersive technologies for design practice: The internal and external barriers. In Proceedings of the Design Society: International Conference on Engineering Design (Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 1903-1912). Cambridge University Press.

Kyaw, B. M., Saxena, N., Posadzki, P., Vseteckova, J., Nikolaou, C. K., George, P. P., … & Car, L. T. (2019). Virtual reality for health professions education: systematic review and meta-analysis by the digital health education collaboration. Journal of medical Internet research, 21(1), e12959.

Liu, R., Peng, C., Zhang, Y., Husarek, H., & Yu, Q. (2021). A survey of immersive technologies and applications for industrial product development. Computers & Graphics, 100, 137-151.

Lavrentieva, O., Arkhypov, I., Kuchma, O., & Uchitel, A. (2020). Use of simulators together with virtual and augmented reality in the system of welders’ vocational training: past, present, and future.

Mallam, S. C., Nazir, S., & Renganayagalu, S. K. (2019). Rethinking maritime education, training, and operations in the digital era: Applications for emerging immersive technologies. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 7(12), 428.

Mekacher, L. (2019). Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR): The future of interactive vocational education and training for people with handicap. International Journal of Teaching, Education and Learning, 3(1), 1-12

Metaverse VR Now (2022, December 25). Virtual reality in engineering industry: Pros and cons – metaverse VR now. Metaverse VR Now – Just another Medical Trends Now Sites site. Retrieved March 1, 2023, from https://metaversevrnow.com/engineering/virtual-reality-in-engineering/ 

Velev, D., & Zlateva, P. (2017). Virtual reality challenges in education and training. International Journal of Learning and Teaching, 3(1), 33-37.

Exploring Creativity through 3D Printing: My first remarkable experience in the Emerging Technologies and Creativity Research Lab.

Posted on by Emerging Technologies & Creativity Research Lab

Audu Clement

When I first got into the Emerging Technologies and Creativity Research (ETCR Lab), the MakerBot 3D printer among other emerging tools, captured my attention and I started thinking about the things I could do within the space. According to Greenway (2015), creativity is invigorated when a physical environment is created to put people at ease and make them feel relaxed and safe. This explains in brief how I felt when I first stepped into the Emerging Technologies and Creativity Research Lab (ETCR). 

In an attempt to learn how to use the 3-D MakerBot printer, I read through the User Guide and did some personal research online, from which I gathered information on how to download images from thingiverse.com or grabcad.com. I explored the Thingiverse option because I could directly link the site from the MakerBot software. Lots of image designs were available for me to choose from. The toothbrush case appeared simple to me as a first-timer of all the designs. At first, I saw and referred to the image as a tooth, which a host of other colleagues in the lab corroborated. When it finally came out, we realized it was a toothbrush case instead; I was happy I could go through the process that took several hours to be accomplished. Specifically, the printing alone took about six hours. It should have taken much less time, but the filament kept jamming and required constant readjustment. 

The original design and the final product is showcased in the labeled images below.

The level of excitement after completing the task,  even as an adult made me ponder a few questions while imagining the level of impact such a space could have on younger students:

  1. What motivated the initiator of this creative research lab to set up this learning space?
  2. What impact does 3-D printing have on young learners?
  3. How can I replicate this creative avenue in my country where students can have practical experiences of how emerging technologies work to further challenge their inquiring minds? 

Why bother with 3D printing?

To answer the question directly, 3-D models provide cost-effective options for simulating and practicing how to use and work with intricate structures which may not be fully appreciated via 2-D images. According to Huang and Zhang (2014), 3-D models are very useful for education and clinical practices where intents can repeat processes to gain mastery before they handle real-life cases. Hence, it can be concluded that the 3-models increase accessibility to products that may initially be expensive to produce, reduces the risk of wasting too many resources in cases where such products fail, create better chances for students’ trial and error when dealing with complex topics and ultimately have a better imagination of how the finished product will appear before embarking on significant projects.

There is another reason to print. Sometimes, you print out of curiosity to ask What if I try this? Sometimes, you just print because you want to learn how 3D printing works, which is a worthy goal as well. Curiosity transforms you from an observer to a creator, empowering you to manifest ideas into reality and master the technology’s nuances. This pursuit unlocks a world of limitless potential, where curiosity ignites the path to innovation and technical expertise.

Much grateful for the information gotten from the Emerging Technologies and Creativity Research Lab and the 3D Quick Start Guide and the video from https://www.makerbot.com/learn/

References 

Huang, W., & Zhang, X. (2014). 3D printing: Print the future of ophthalmology. Investigative Opthalmology & Visual Science, 55(8), 5380. https://doi.org/10.1167/iovs.14-15231 

Greenway, S. (2015, July 30). How does environment influence creative thinking? – linkedin. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-does-environment-influence-creative-thinking-shelly-greenway 

Teaching with ChatGPT and Other LLMs, Part 2

Posted on by stansbe

Innovative Online Teaching Strategies, February 21, 2023

Resources

ChatGPT – https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/ 

WriteSonic – https://app.writesonic.com/ (voice commands, images)

GPT-3 Playground – https://platform.openai.com/playground

YouChat – https://you.com/

Chinchilla – https://www.deepmind.com/

Jasper – https://beta.jasper.ai/

Microsoft Syntex – https://aka.ms/syntex

GPTZero – https://gptzero.me/ 

ChatGPT for Google Chrome Extension http://chatgpt4google.com

Teaching with ChatGPT

•Jumpstart lesson ideas

•Generate writing examples at different levels

•Generate a story using a set of vocabulary words in any order

•Student fact-checking or adding citations

•Generate writing prompts or authentic problems/cases

•Generate directions or tip sheets

•Build rubrics

•Analyze student writing

•Brainstorm new ideas and instructional strategies

Discussion Questions

•How do these tools allow us to achieve our intended outcomes differently and better?

•How can they promote equity and access?

•Better thinking and argumentation?

•How does learning take place in ways we haven’t experienced before?

•How can we foster critical AI literacy? (logic, consistency, accuracy, bias)

•What might appropriate use of ChatGPT look like in your classroom? (sometimes the best tool for the job is a pencil)

•How can ChatGPT be used to move from reproduced knowledge to higher order thinking skills? 

Metaverse In Education

Posted on by Emerging Technologies & Creativity Research Lab

By Clement Abai and Olaitan Kushimo

Background

My obsession of merging real and virtual worlds has been a fun experience so far in my doctoral studies. This can be seen through one of my recent projects (Figure. 1) that I am currently working on. This project allows me to be creative and explore the potential use of emerging technology in learning such as the Mozilla Hubs, a Virtual Reality (VR) platform developed by Mozilla. In this project, I took the lead in designing virtual learning spaces to engage learners in their learning process. For example, the Virtual Citizen Science Expo (VCSE). This virtual learning space was designed to engage youth in learning about drought, water and environmental monitoring. Learners enter VCSE as avatars and interact in real time in this space. This merging of the real world situation with the virtual world is known as Metaverse. In simple terms, the Metaverse is seen as a virtual space with graphic features where people can do things as they do in real life like shop, play or work. Just as in virtual reality, the headset immerses you into the 3D-environment while carrying the motion-sensor controllers to interact with virtual objects, the microphone allows for communicating with others.

Industries and social media platforms such as Meta (previously known as Facebook) are broadening their horizons by merging the real and virtual worlds, which has further driven exploration of this technology in educational settings. Graduate Research Associates (GRA), Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTA) and researchers in educational research who are interested in these emerging technologies are exploring  the impact of Extended Reality (XR) on learning and are excited about this phenomenon. XR refers to emerging technologies ranging from Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Mixed Reality (MR) and other future immersive technologies (Palmas & Klinker, 2020). Not only are the GRA’s, GTA’s and the educational researchers excited about this new development, this also ignited their curiosity about the opportunities this technology brings and how it can be applied in education. One of these GTA’s whom the idea sparked their interest happens to be my colleague, Olaitan Kushimo, a PhD student in the Learning, Design and Technology program who also works in the Emerging Technology and Creativity Research Lab at Oklahoma State University. She recently voiced her interest in a recent lab meeting about the use of Metaverse in education and since this was in line with my interest, we decided to collaborate and work together to explore how Metaverse could be used in education. 

Figure 1. Participants as avatars gathering in a virtual learning space and watching an instructional video on how to measure and report rainfall.

Potential of Metaverse in Learning

Metaverse, considered to be the next-generation Internet, is a virtual world where users can interact with each other and objects in real time as avatars. This term became a hot topic when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in October. 28, 2021 announced that Facebook would change its name to Meta, to include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and the Oculus VR under this new brand. By changing the name to Meta, the aim was to focus on the Metaverse, a shared virtual environment, as well as its other popular apps (CBC, 2022). This merging of the virtual world and the real world creates work experiences that are immersive and realistic that anyone can perform (Ng et al, 2021). For example, a study by Siyaev and Jo (2021) on aircraft maintenance showed that Metaverse creates opportunities to interact with virtual airplanes and provides an almost realistic work experience for the aircraft maintenance workers. A separate study by Barry et. al., (2015) on active learning and Metaverse discovered that in a virtual problem-based learning (PBL) class, an eye blinking system was used to find how emotional responses of students correlated to students blinking their eyes when different mathematical problems were asked in an immersive learning space. The study found that students’ eyes were blinking more when the questions asked were more difficult. It is exciting to see the potential of the Metaverse to provide learning environments that provide a realistic experience, allow interactions and even trigger emotions. Studies such as these leave Olaitan and I optimistic about the potential learning tool the Metaverse may be in a classroom setting. 

Figure 2. Maintenance education of landing gear removal of Boeing 737 using Mixed Reality. Spectator View was used on secondary devices to view the HoloLens experiences (Siyaev & Jo, 2021).

Metaverse in Classrooms

If you have used any of the realities in the XR spectrum in your classroom, then you have experienced some form of Metaverse environment. Metaverse is not new, this technology has been existing since the 1990’s. However, with the advancement of technology, Metaverse is now a major buzzword in the fields of technology, business, finance, and now education  (Welsh, 2022). With the interest in Metaverse in education and hardship caused by the recent events such as the COVID-19 pandemics, teachers and students experienced educational disruptions that led to an even bigger digital divide (Kwang, 2021). A study by MacCallum and Parsons (2019) found that teachers of all levels of experience need to be properly equipped on how to use Metaverse to help students learn. By gaining the necessary skills, teachers can fully realize the educational potential of Metaverse in their practice. This learning environment provides the ability to be more inclusive and create pedagogical solutions in a classroom setting (Kwang, 2021). For example, teachers can integrate games such as a scavenger hunt and puzzles in their virtual learning environment where students can enter as avatars to play the games, work together to solve problems, watch educational videos and hold discussions. By participating and interacting in this virtual learning environment, students and teachers can enjoy the almost realistic experiences in their learning (Siyaev and Jo, 2021) as they collaborate and problem solve. The abilities for students to collaborate and problem solve in a metaverse learning environment are inline with studies done by  Barry et al., (2015) and Van der Land et. al., (2011). These studies found that Metaverse online learning environments promote group collaboration (Van der Land et. al., 2011) and encourage problem solving (Barry et al., 2015). Finally, Metaverse can empower students to be creative (Tonéis, 2011) by allowing them to choose their own adventure style stories, do presentations in this virtual space, create professional development experiences that will have teachers thinking like kids again. :-).


Figure 3. Students using VR headsets in a classroom. (Source: The Times of India, 2021).
Figure 4. A student experiencing Metaverse in the background with a VR google . (Source: Chúláin & Reuters, 2022).

References

Agencies. (n.d.). Metaverse: The next net revolution? TIMES NIE : Home. Retrieved March 25, 2022, from https://toistudent.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/explainer/metaverse-the-next-net-revolution/69198.html.

Barry, D. M., Ogawa, N., Dharmawansa, A., Kanematsu, H., Fukumura, Y., Shirai, T., … & Kobayashi, T. (2015). Evaluation for students’ learning manner using eye blinking system in metaverse. Procedia computer science, 60, 1195-1204.

CBC/Radio Canada. (n.d.). Why Facebook is now called Meta | CBC kids news. CBCnews. Retrieved April 13, 2022, from https://www.cbc.ca/kidsnews/post/why-facebook-is-now-called-meta.

Chúláin, A. N. (2022, January 14). Are virtual classrooms in the metaverse the future of Education? euronews. Retrieved March 25, 2022, from https://www.euronews.com/next/2022/01/14/educating-in-the-metaverse-are-virtual-reality-classrooms-the-future-of-education.

Kwang Hyung Lee (2021). The educational ‘metaverse’ is coming. THE Campus Learn, Share, Connect. (2021, October 29). Retrieved March 25, 2022, from https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/educational-metaverse-coming.

MacCallum, K., & Parsons, D. (2019, September). Teacher perspectives on mobile augmented reality: The potential of metaverse for learning. In World Conference on Mobile and Contextual Learning (pp. 21-28).

Ng, W. C., Lim, W. Y. B., Ng, J. S., Xiong, Z., Niyato, D., & Miao, C. (2021). Unified resource allocation framework for the edge intelligence-enabled metaverse. arXiv preprint arXiv:2110.14325.

Palmas, F., & Klinker, G. (2020). Defining Extended Reality Training: A Long-Term Definition for All Industries. In 2020 IEEE 20th International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT) (pp. 322-324). IEEE.

Siyaev, A., & Jo, G. S. (2021). Towards aircraft maintenance metaverse using speech interactions with virtual objects in mixed reality. Sensors, 21(6), 2066.

Tonéis, C. N. (2011). Puzzles as a creative form of play in metaverse. Journal For Virtual Worlds Research, 4(1).

Van der Land, S., Schouten, A., & Feldberg, F. (2011). Modeling the metaverse: a theoretical model of effective team collaboration in 3D virtual environments. Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, 4(3).

Welsh, O. (2022, March 6). The metaverse, explained. Polygon. Retrieved March 30, 2022, from https://www.polygon.com/22959860/metaverse-explained-video-games.