Over the last year or so we built the world’s first AI
content creation service, WildFire, which creates online learning in minutes
not months, at a much lower cost and with high retention. The reason for
claiming it is high retention, is that we largely abandoned multiple-choice-questions for open-input, making the learner think, recall and actively input
their thoughts. It is this ‘effortful’ learning that really matters in
learning. This worked well and we have delivered online learning on factual
knowledge, high-end academic content, processes, procedures and management
content to a range of audiences in large organisations, from apprentices to high-end clinicians, in finance, healthcare, travel and manufacturing. Having
seen how well open-input worked, we turned our attention to the use of AI to go several steps further and improve the interface. What if the learner could simply speak
the answers? ... it was a revelation.
Speech
We learn to speak almost effortlessly, whereas, writing
takes many years. So why not exploit what we do everyday in our lives - use speech input. It was thought that women spoke much more than men, a myth
started in The Female Brain, by Louann Brizendine, who claimed that, whereas
women spoke on average 20,000 words a day, it was only 6,000 for men. This
proved to be nonsense. An actual study, at the University of Arizona by Mehl
(2007), using an electronic recording device to sample everyday speech from 396
people found that we speak, on average, around 16,000 words a day, with no
significant difference between men and women.
This is much greater than the average for
writing. So it makes sense to use speech in learning. Consider also that if
spelling is not part of the learning, you eliminate problems around
misspelling, especially for those who are nervous on that score or who may have
dyslexia. On top of this you do not have to make the physical effort to move a
cursor around the screen into a field, then physically type.
Retention
However, it is interesting to compare different forms of input in terms
of retention. So, you think of an answer, then:
CHOOSE your answer from a list (multiple choice)
TYPE your answer
SPEAK your answer
CHOOSE (MCQs)
It is clear that simply clicking on an already provided
answer from a list is the least effective of the three. The answer is there
in front of your eyes, you have a 25% chance of getting it right without knowing
anything, questions are often designed so that you can guess and the
distractors are often remembered rather then the correct answers. It makes you
wonder why the online learning industry is so wedded to MCQs.
TYPE
This has the advantage of making you recall the answer into
your brain first (a powerful reinforcement event), then actively type in the answer,
another reinforcement event, without having been given the answer or suffering
from the drawbacks of simply choosing from a pre-written list. We have found
this to be a much more powerful way of learning.
SPEAK
Things get interesting here, as you are communicating
directly, without any of the artificiality of choosing from a list or typing. My initial
impression (not based on any studies) is that this may be even better. Being
hands free, your attention and cognitive focus is entirely on thinking and
expressing your thoughts. None of your cognitive bandwidth is taken up by moving
the cursor, typing and letter-by-letter spelling. You get a focus on meaning but there’s an additional
advantage, as you get more of a flow and the learning is faster.
Podcasts
Using another form of AI, text to speech, we can also, automatically, create podcasts. This is built into the service. Simply tick a
box and your online learning will create a podcast of the module or page by
page speech. This is a useful supplement to the active learning.
Context
In addition, as we have audio only learning, including
navigation, using the words, NEXT, BACK, GO and SCROLL, so we can place the learning
experience within VR, which we have done, instantly and cheaply. We know that context helps
retention, so speech input allows a further level of retention to be achieved. This is getting interesting in say, training fror healthcare professionals in a hospital or cabin crew inside an aircraft.
Conclusion
Simultaneously, using different forms of AI, we hope to have
increased the efficacy of online learning by the:
1. Superfast creation of content
2. Higher retention open-input
3. Higher retention speech input
4. Automatically created podcasts
5. Full 3D VR delivery
All at lower costs and far greater speed than traditional
and expensive methods. If you are interested we can show you all of this by
Skype. Contact us here.
Bibliography
Mehl M
(2007). Are Women Really More Talkative Than Men? Science ,Vol.
317, Issue 5834, pp. 82
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