Kaska Porayska-Pomsta

Kaska Porayska-Pomsta, Wayne Holmes

This paper presents the key conclusions to the forthcoming edited book on The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in Education: Practices, Challenges and Debates (August 2022, Routlege). As well as highlighting the key contributions to the book, it discusses the key questions and the grand challenges for the field of AI in Education (AIED)in the context of ethics and ethical practices within the field. The book itself presents diverse perspectives from outside and from within the AIED as a way of achieving a broad perspective in the key ethical issues for AIED and a deep understanding of work conducted to date by the AIED community.

Kaska Porayska-Pomsta, Wayne Holmes, Selena Nemorin

The transition of Artificial Intelligence (AI) from a lab-based science to live human contexts brings into sharp focus many historic, socio-cultural biases, inequalities, and moral dilemmas. Many questions that have been raised regarding the broader ethics of AI are also relevant for AI in Education (AIED). AIED raises further specific challenges related to the impact of its technologies on users, how such technologies might be used to reinforce or alter the way that we learn and teach, and what we, as a society and individuals, value as outcomes of education. This chapter discusses key ethical dimensions of AI and contextualises them within AIED design and engineering practices to draw connections between the AIED systems we build, the questions about human learning and development we ask, the ethics of the pedagogies we use, and the considerations of values that we promote in and through AIED within a wider socio-technical system.

Kaska Porayska-Pomsta

This paper examines the historical foundations, current practices, and emerging challenges for Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED) within broader AI practices. It highlights AIED's unique and rich potential for contributing to the current AI policy and practices, especially in the context of responsible AI. It also discusses the key gaps in the AIED field, which need to be addressed by the community to elevate the field from a cottage industry to the level where it will deservedly be seen as key to advancin AI research and practical applications. The paper offers a five-point manifesto aimed to revitalise AIED' contributions to education and broader AI community, suggesting enhanced interdisciplinary collaboration, a broadened understanding of AI's impact on human functioning, and commitment to setting agendas for human-centred educational innovations.This approach positions AIED to significantly influence educational technologies to achieve genuine positive impact across diverse societal segments.

Kaska Porayska-Pomsta

Current discourse surrounding Artificial Intelligence (AI) oscillates between hope and apprehension, painting a future where AI reshapes every facet of human life, including Education. This paper delves into the complexities of AI's role in Education, addressing the mixed messages that have both enthused and alarmed educators, policymakers, and the public. It explores the promises that AI holds for enhancing learning through personalisation at scale, against the backdrop of concerns about ethical implications, the devaluation of non-STEM subjects, and the potential transformative impact on our neurocognitive and socio-emotional functioning. Drawing on recent research and global discourse, the paper seeks to unpack the reasons behind the vagueness of current discussions on AI in Education (AIED) and the implications of this ambiguity for future educational practices and policies. By highlighting insights from educational research and synthesising evidence-based best practices in AIED, the aim is to provide a clearer understanding of how AI technologies can be aligned with the fundamental principles of learning and teaching, and explore what concrete actions may need to be prioritised now to truly enhance learning experiences and outcomes for all in the future.

Cristina Conati, Kaska Porayska-Pomsta, Manolis Mavrikis

Interpretability of the underlying AI representations is a key raison d'être for Open Learner Modelling (OLM) -- a branch of Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) research. OLMs provide tools for 'opening' up the AI models of learners' cognition and emotions for the purpose of supporting human learning and teaching. Over thirty years of research in ITS (also known as AI in Education) produced important work, which informs about how AI can be used in Education to best effects and, through the OLM research, what are the necessary considerations to make it interpretable and explainable for the benefit of learning. We argue that this work can provide a valuable starting point for a framework of interpretable AI, and as such is of relevance to the application of both knowledge-based and machine learning systems in other high-stakes contexts, beyond education.