PERSPECTIVES ON AIED

BIOLA UNIVERSITY

PERSPECTIVES ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN EDUCATION:

A STUDY OF PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS

by

Jai Voon Chong

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has been approved by the

IE School of Education

in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree Master of Arts in Education

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Fall 2020
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Christie J. Curtis, Ph.D., Graduate Chair

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IE
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© 2020 by Jai Voon Chong

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All Rights Reserved

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Table of Contents

Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………... 1

Chapter/Section

CHAPTER 1: Introduction………………………………………………………………… 2-4

CHAPTER 2: Literature Review …………………………………………………………… 5-23

Artificial Intelligence (AI) ………………………………………………………………………. 5

Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIEd) ……………………………………………………... 7

Models of AIEd ………………………………………………………………………………… 8

Goals of AIEd ………………………………………………………………………………… 10

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Create an Adaptive Learning Environment …………………………………………… 11
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Provide Collaborative Learning Experience …………………………………………… 14

Assisting Administrative Jobs Using Prediction Models ……………………………… 16

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Challenges in the Implementation of AIEd …………………………………………………… 19

AIEd in the Future …………………………………………………………………………… 20

Teachers and AIEd …………………………………………………………………………… 22

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CHAPTER 3: Methodology ………………………………………………………………… 24-31

Research Questions ………………………………………………………………………… 24

Research Design ……………………………………………………………………………… 24

Participant ……………………………………………………………………………………… 27

Data Collection ………………………………………………………………………………… 28

Data Analysis ………………………………………………………………………………… 29

Validity and Ethical Concern ………………………………………………………………… 30

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CHAPTER 4: Results ……………………………………………………………………… 32-42

Meaning of AIEd ……………………………………………………………………………… 32

Willingness to Integrate AIEd ………………………………………………………………… 34

Roles of AIEd in the Teaching Profession …………………………………………………… 35

Teacher’s Concerns in Implementing AIEd …………………………………………………… 37

Enhancing Factors that Encourage the Implementation of AIEd ……………………………… 40

Teacher’s Perspectives Toward AIEd in the Future …………………………………………… 41

CHAPTER 5: Discussion and Conclusion ………………………………………………… 43-49

Discussion …………………………………………………………………………………… 43

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Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………… 47
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Limitations …………………………………………………………………………………… 48

Biblical Integration …………………………………………………………………………… 48

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REFERENCES …………………………………………………………………………… 50-59

Appendix A: Informed Consent Form ………………………………………………………… 60

Appendix B: Verbatim Transcription Example …………………………………………… 61-66

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Abstract

The potential and benefit of artificial intelligence (AI) in many aspects have been explored

widely. The applications of artificial intelligence in education (AIEd) such as an intelligent

tutoring system, automated scoring system, and predictive model are believed to be able to

enhance the entire learning process or even create a new type of learning pattern. Putting ethical

considerations and the drawbacks of artificial intelligence aside, researchers and software

developers believe that the popularity of AIEd will come only sooner rather than later. Although

the view of teachers is critical of policymakers, researchers, or even software developers who

support this technology, the perspectives of public elementary school teachers are less discussed

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in literature. Therefore, a qualitative phenomenological research design was used to investigate
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the perspectives of public elementary school teachers on AIEd. The findings of the study showed

that most teachers were willing to integrate AIEd in their teaching profession when opportunities
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were granted. More research reporting the effectiveness of AIEd might help in increasing the

confidence of teachers implementing AIEd in classrooms. Nevertheless, social concerns, such as

reduced human interaction, the biggest factors that inhibited teachers from integrating AIEd.
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This point of view was particularly mentioned from their experience of providing distance

learning instruction in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings of the study also

revealed that teachers believe that technology is a supportive mechanism aiding teachers in

teaching rather than replacing the role of teachers.

Keywords: artificial intelligence in education, phenomenological research, elementary

school teachers, perspectives, COVID-19

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Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence in Education:

A Study of Public Elementary School Teachers

Chapter 1: Introduction

As many have recognized the revolutionary role of artificial intelligence (AI) in

technology, science, medicine, entertainment, defense, and economic development, education

has also started experiencing the ripple effects of AI and AI’s potential has received academic

attention since five decades ago (Self, 2016). Today, considering the advancement of the 5G

network, the technology of AI sped up simultaneously given the higher capacity of supply

toward infrastructures and massive amounts of data that AI needs. Moreover, the recent virus

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outbreak of COVID-19 inexorably facilitated a learning system that enables long-distance and
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data-sharing features in which AI technology might enhance the education system. The fact that

an increased number of AI researchers, venture capitalists, and product developers are shifting
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their attention to education is exciting yet concerning because this shift may drastically shape the

future of education. Undoubtedly, opportunities for AI and technology-enhanced learning are

unfolding. Thus, different types of research play a significant role in helping educators to prepare
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the students for new roles that the economy will create.

Before predicting what kind of new education era will be created, it is important to

explore how the current projects and products address the challenges faced by today’s education

system. This paper gathered the general meanings of AI and artificial intelligence in education

(AIEd) with a combination of several versions of meanings. Also, this paper discussed how AIEd

helps to solve the major challenges that most teachers and schools struggle with nowadays. For

example, the challenges include increasing the availability to create individualized instruction to

accommodate students’ specific needs and offering more time for teachers to prepare better
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interventions rather than devoting most of the time handling administrative work (Baker &

Smith, 2019). In this paper, the goals of AIEd were to provide an adaptive learning environment,

promote a collaborative learning experience, and help to reduce administrative burden using

prediction models. Although the opportunities of AIEd were discussed, the challenges of

implementing AIEd needed to be considered as well. The challenges included the lack of

understanding of algorithms and ethical issues involving safety and bias. Furthermore, the paper

presented several possible futures that could be created by AIEd. Whether a utopian view or a

dystopian view is adopted, the fact that many countries have involved AIEd in their national

blueprints provokes the need for educators to study the topic in-depth (Baker & Smith, 2019;

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Pedro, 2019).
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Getting to know someone’s perspective is crucial in understanding a person’s experience,

situation, and the tenor of their attitudes (Maibom, 2019). In this case, teachers’ perspectives on
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AIEd are important for many future undertakings in terms of the strategy of promoting AIEd and

the improvisation of AIEd. Although researchers have reported the necessity and benefit of

integrating AI in education and even discussed the possible trends of AIEd in the future, the
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perspectives of teachers remained less discovered (Zawacki-Richter et al., 2019). Moreover,

most research was conducted in a higher education setting rather than the elementary level

(Hinojo-Lucena et al., 2019; Khare et al., 2018; Popenici & Kerr, 2017; Thompson et al., 2018;

Zawacki-Ritchter et al., 2019). This lacuna, therefore, drew attention to the need to investigate

the topic by collecting elementary school teachers’ perspectives. Moreover, amidst the

happening of the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers’ perspectives on the implementation of AIEd

might be influenced by the experience of social distancing and even distance learning. Therefore,

using a qualitative phenomenological research design, this study aimed to understand the
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perspectives of public elementary school teachers on AIEd, and the following research questions

were specified:

1. What do teachers know about AIEd?

2. Given the opportunity, would they incorporate AIEd in their classroom?

3. What are the roles of AIEd in the teaching profession based on teachers’ understanding?

4. What are teachers’ concerns about implementing AIEd in their teaching profession?

5. What factors enhance the implementation of AIEd?

6. How does distance learning impact the development of AIEd?

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Chapter 2: Literature Review

Artificial Intelligence

The technological term artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer an unheard idea to many.

However, through all the years of development, definitions of AI are inconsistent because of its

constantly shifting and complex interdisciplinary nature (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2019; Luckin et

al., 2016; Renz et al., 2020). According to Bostrom, AI is not easily recognized, even when the

technology is permeated into general applications, when the applications such as a computer, a

system, or a software become useful and common (CNN, 2006). For instance, the wide

technological advancement of AI can be seen as it includes dozens of subcategories such as

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collective intelligence, computerized vision, common sense, data mining, emotional intelligence,
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games theory, image processing, language processing, neural networks, pattern recognition, and

robotics. Moreover, another reason for the difficulty in defining AI is its penetration in multiple
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disciplines: for example, anthropology, biology, computer science, education, finance, law,

linguistics, medicine, neuroscience, philosophy, and psychology, where each group offers

different terminology and perspective (Luckin et al., 2016; Popenici & Kerr, 2017; Russell &
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Novig, 2010). Nevertheless, to introduce the meaning of AI, this paper collected explanations

from several educational literature sources.

In 1956, McCarthy first introduced the term artificial intelligence in the Dartmouth

Summer Research Project in Artificial Intelligence and coined that “the study of AI is to proceed

on the bases of the conjecture that every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence

can in principle be so precisely described that a machine can be made to simulate it” (Russell &

Norvig, 2010, p. 17). According to the first handbook of AI, AI is a computer system associating

with human characteristics where the system performs intelligent skills and behaviors such as
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understanding language, learning, reasoning, and solving problems (Barr & Feigenbaum, 1981).

After a few decades, the recent interpretations of AI converged to the similar concepts presented

by the previous works. Luckin et al. (2016) suggested that AI is a programmed computer

software using algorithms to process the knowledge of the world with required human

intelligence. According to Murphy (2019), the term AI refers to “applications of software

algorithms and techniques that allow computers and machines to simulate human perception and

decision-making processes to successfully complete tasks” (p. 2). As an umbrella concept to

describe a variety of technologies and methods, such as deep learning, natural language

processing, neural networks, machine learning, or any possible algorithms, Baker and Smith

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(2019) defined AI as “computers which perform cognitive tasks, usually associated with human
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minds, particularly learning and problem-solving” (p. 10).

Although the existing literature has presented a plethora of explanations to define AI,
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those definitions still direct the readers to reach some common understanding despite its

extendable and constantly shifting nature. First, AI refers to a computer system, which is also

known as a machine that uses algorithms to perform its operations. Second, AI simulates, instead
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of creates, human intelligence and behavior. Third, AI targets to complete tasks, including

reasoning, learning, understanding language, and solving problems.

Despite the multiform of technologies related to AI study, current research and products

do not establish an omnipotent superintelligence that is mostly depicted in fictional series. The

AI that has been massively discussed in literature is narrow AI—intelligence that targets the data

from one specific domain and translates it to producing one specific outcome (Lee, 2018). Only

if the major constraints of narrow AI are removed and AI can access multi-domain learning,

which can be hardly achieved in the near future, is it possible to create artificial general
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intelligence—technology that can do many tasks a human can (Baker & Smith, 2019). Therefore,

instead of drifting into a powerful realm of artificial general intelligence, this literature review

focused only on the potential applications of narrow AI as parts of the educational system.

Artificial Intelligence in Education

Because the first artificial intelligence in education (AIEd) research was conducted in the

1970s, and the first AIEd conference was held in 1983, the continuous advancement of the

technology in the field has caused the topics relating to AIEd to be actively studied by

educational researchers. From then on, the deepened weaving of AI into the fabric of educational

aspects has caught the attention of many educators as the usage of computer-based learning

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systems have been drastically increased in the K-12 systems as well as higher education. As for
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the recent global updates, the unexpected outbreak of COVID-19 dramatically has increased the

integration of remote learning in teachers’ daily basis and further expanded the territory of AIEd
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(Rauf, 2020; Wang, 2020). Nevertheless, similar to AI, whether among the tutor, the tool, or the

learner, setting an explicit explanation to define AIEd is difficult (Cumming, 1998; Dillenbourg,

2016). Cumming (1998) suggested that the difficulty is caused by the blurred distinction of the
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wide range of the systems acting as the tutor and the tool. Besides, research contributors could

not draw the boundaries between the users and the systems because too much overlapping

occurred among technology and the learning communities (Dillenbourg, 2016).

In general, Luckin et al. (2016) suggested that AIEd would unwrap the black box of

learning, and further unravel the missing pieces of how learning actually happens. To achieve

this great mission, AIEd ought to become more computational and scientifically combining the

implicit side of educational, psychological, and social knowledge (Self, 1998). More specifically,

integrating the human-like properties of AI into the fields—such as adapting, synthesizing, self-
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correcting, and the use of data for processing complex tasks—allow AI to be a computing system

that can enhance the learning process (Popenici & Kerr, 2017). Put simply, Zanetti et al. (2020)

defined artificial intelligence in education as “a system’s ability to interpret data inputted by the

teacher or the student, learn from such data and use those learnings to achieve specific teaching

goals and tasks through flexible adaptation to the environment” (p. 94). By other means, AIEd

explores the connection between a system, learner, and pedagogical content, through the data

analysis and algorithm calculation, eventually leading to task completion and goal achievement.

Models of AIEd

The following text introduced several categories and models of AIEd relating to different

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themes. First, Luckin et al. (2016) categorized AIEd into three categories: the pedagogical
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model, the learner model, and the domain model. Each model discusses different aspects of

knowledge: for instance, the pedagogical model refers to the knowledge and expertise of
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teaching, the domain model refers to the knowledge of subjects being learned, and the learner

model refers to the knowledge of the student. To understand what happens between the computer

and the learner, the interactions, such as a student’s current activities, prior achievements,
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emotional state, and whether or not they responded to the feedback, can be represented in learner

models. These interactions are then used by the domain and pedagogical models, using

algorithms to process that information, in order to evaluate the progress of the learner and the

teacher. The processed data are then used to determine the next most appropriate content to be

delivered to the learner according to their needs and further create new interactions. All three

models get updates and become “smarter” when more information, activities, and feedback are

collected.
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Second, although some products and tools combine properties from multiple categories,

Baker and Smith (2019) also grouped AIEd tools in three categories: learner-facing, teacher-

facing, and system-facing. Learner-facing AIEd is the most common category when most people

think of AIEd because it includes the software that students used to learn additional information

that is tailored to students’ needs. This category is usually known as “intelligent tutoring systems

(ITS),” or “adaptive,” “personalized,” or “differentiated learning platforms,” and is capable of

processing students’ knowledge, providing feedback, and facilitating interactions between

learners. Such tools can be used outside the classroom where students familiarize themselves

with new concepts while classroom time is used to develop knowledge of those concepts. On the

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other hand, with teacher-facing AIEd that supports automation of tasks such as assessment and
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plagiarism detection, teachers could easily provide insightful feedback while cooperating with

the learner-facing AIEd data. Additionally, teachers can offer various methods of teaching based
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on the shared characteristics of students. For example, teachers can try experimenting with

different small collaborating groups or planning class seating plans that reduce behavioral

problems. Baker and Smith (2019) noted that system-facing AIEd is the least explored subject. In
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terms of managing and administrating education systems, system-facing AIEd is expected to be

applications that can organize timetables and predict inspections.

Instead of classifying AIEd based on how different facets view the capabilities of each

model and system, Murphy (2019) suggested that AIEd can be categorized based on the systemic

design of the applications. The narrow AI that has been applied in most of the AIEd studies fall

into two categories, which are rule-based expert systems and machine-based learning systems.

The first category includes applications that are used to function as adaptive instructional

software systems. Two key elements of expert systems are the knowledge base and the inference
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engine. The knowledge base collects the encoded data and experience needed for problem

solving, and often follows if-then statements or rules. The inference engine makes decisions

based on incoming sources of data and generates recommendations that abide by the rules in the

expert knowledge base. In contrast to the rule-based expert system, machine-based learning is an

approach to build a predictive model by processing massive amounts of data using statistical

algorithms. The system discovers patterns among the input predictor variables with the output

variable of interests. For example, machine-learning algorithms might be used to analyze the

relationship between student characteristics in their early school years and their on-time

graduation in high school (Barrett et al., 2019; Murphy, 2019). Another promising application of

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machine learning is the automated essay scoring system (AES). With the technology of natural
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language processing, the algorithms extract features of the text and compare them with the

features of human-scored essays. Ultimately, the algorithms learn the patterns of relationships
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between the features and different writing levels to grade similarly to human scorers on standard

writing tasks (Murphy, 2019).

The categories, which are mentioned by different authors to explain the types of AIEd,
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generally link the foundational design of the technology to several educational purposes. Despite

the disparities between the models, AIEd is believed to be an educational tool that facilitates the

learners, teachers, and systems through a continually advancing nature of the technology.

Goals of AIEd

Before delving deeper into the goals of AIEd, having a brief insight of current

educational challenges and future educational circumstances is essential to understand how AIEd

may assist individual learners, group learners, teachers, and school administrators. According to

Baker and Smith (2019), several educational challenges that might be resolved by the
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implementation of AIEd are the following: (a) teachers occupied with heavy workload, (b) “one-

size-fits-all” instruction that is inflexible, (c) limited assessments for both student and teacher,

(d) the lack of sharing between educational organizations, and (e) educational inequality.

Furthermore, either directly or indirectly extended from these issues, some educators suggested

that future educational settings should (a) provide students with knowledge of new jobs that the

economy will create, (b) teach students more 21st-century skills, and (c) create a lifelong

learning society for all (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2019; Khare et al., 2018; Luckin et al., 2019; Woolf

et al., 2013). For the most part, these challenges and circumstances are largely aligned with the

goals of making learning more diverse, accessible, direct, social, collaborative, related, and

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available to people (Woolf et al., 2013). By combining the characteristics of AIEd, researchers
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and developers believe that AIEd can improve these problems to some extent and construct the

desired future educational setting. For learners themselves, creating an adaptive learning
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environment and a collaborative learning experience is the solution that can be offered by AIEd

to address the problems. In terms of administration, researchers have highlighted the predictive

capability of technology as one of the answers to the predicaments.

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Create an Adaptive Learning Environment

The underlying principle of the adaptive learning system is built on the knowledge of

apprenticeship training and human tutor (Shemshack & Spector, 2020). Today, even though

adaptive learning is also commonly used to refer to technology-enhanced learning, adaptive

learning is still mostly used interchangeably with personalized learning, which has a meaning of

targeting students’ individual needs such as providing individualized instruction, self-paced

instruction, and differentiated instruction. Unlike the early forms of adaptive learning that only

serve a small number of learners, modern adaptive learning aims to deal with large numbers of

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