Latest news with #Khanmigo
Business Wire
24-04-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
NWN, AI OWL, Khan Academy and Intel Partner to Transform AI Learning Opportunities for Students Across Ohio
BOSTON & OHIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- NWN, the leading provider of AI-powered technology solutions, together with AI OWL, Khan Academy and Intel, today unveiled the launch of Ohio's AI Education Network. The program aims to enhance AI education in Ohio by establishing technology labs in K-12 and higher education institutions, providing students with hands-on opportunities to develop essential AI skills. "Ohio stands at the forefront of AI education," said Trace Johnson, Co-Founder of AI OWL. "With the launch of the AI Education Network, we're not just preparing students for the future, we're shaping it. By building a dynamic ecosystem of education, training, and industry collaboration, we're equipping the next generation with the skills and opportunities to drive innovation and make a lasting impact in their communities." The launch comes on the heels of the introduction of Ohio's AI in Education Coalition. Launched and previously led by Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) during his tenure as Ohio's lieutenant governor, the program is developing a comprehensive strategy to ensure the state's education system is prepared for and can help lead the AI revolution. The first AI-powered education labs from the network are live at Tipp City Schools, a K-12 public school district supporting roughly 2,400 students, and Hocking College, a public community college in Nelsonville, Ohio. At each lab, students receive an advanced AI curriculum through Intel's Digital Readiness program which AI OWL customizes for schools. The labs also leverage Khanmigo, an AI-powered personal tutor for students and teaching assistant for educators, from nonprofit Khan Academy. NWN provides each institution with AI solutions to power the labs, including Intel-based AI PCs, cybersecurity tools, intelligent network connectivity and cloud services. The network is on track to establish a vast array of labs across Ohio by 2028, engaging a significant portion of the state's educational institutions and setting an ambitious new benchmark for tech-driven education. Additionally, AI OWL will continue actively hiring program graduates as developers who will mentor and support the schools where they graduated. "The AI Education Network addresses the pressing need to prepare and train the next generation for an AI-driven future," said Jim Sullivan, President and CEO, NWN. "With Ohio's innovative policies and our collaborations with industry leaders, NWN is poised to bridge the gap between potential and practical application, offering students hands-on experience with AI technology." To learn more about the AI Lab Ecosystem, visit About NWN Corporation NWN is the leading AI-powered technology solutions provider for North America's most innovative public and private organizations. For more than 30 years, NWN has helped over 5,000 CIOs deliver technology modernization programs with its Intelligent Workplace, Customer Experience (CX), Managed Devices, Cybersecurity and Public Safety, Connectivity, and Intelligent Cloud solutions. The company's proprietary Experience Management Platform ensures seamless service delivery, real-time observability and improved efficiency for its clients' most demanding technology needs. NWN is a high-performance, high-integrity team of 1,000+ experts committed to a customer-obsessed culture, earning a 75 Customer Net Promoter Score. The company has been recognized with hundreds of industry awards and is proud to be a 'Best Place to Work' with an 86 Employee Net Promoter Score. For more information, visit:
Forbes
22-04-2025
- Forbes
AI Agents In Education: The Rise From Chatbots To Companions
connects students with dynamic video AI tutors who interact using speech and with the ... More ability to display images, videos, and a whiteboard. Imagine a student in a rural town exploring the dynamics of the solar system with a multilingual AI tutor that feels more like a friend than a computer. This will be the experience of 10,000 students in Israel this May as deploys a large-scale test AI agents in the guise of its digital tutors. As AI tools integrate into education, they're evolving from chatbots to conversational avatars with distinct personalities, transforming student engagement. This transition reflects a change in role and form. It suggests a psychological shift in how students are expected to interact with AI, which is becoming a digital companion accompanying them on their learning journey. Three notable examples– digital tutors, Tavus's Conversational Video Interface, and Khan Academy's Khanmigo–highlight this trend in agent-centered AI and its potential to transform student engagement with digital learning. At the forefront of this trend is an innovative AI company specializing in highly interactive digital avatars explicitly tailored for education. Unlike traditional chatbots, avatars mimic human tutors, using real-time visuals, virtual whiteboards, and natural voice conversations, which results in a very similar experience to a typical online tutoring session. A key feature of is its natural voice communication capability. 'Students text friends but prefer voice for tutoring—it's more engaging,' says CEO Alan Bekker. The avatars can engage students through fluid conversations, creating an intuitive and personal environment. The technology seamlessly integrates multilingual functionality, instantly adapting to students' preferred languages for input and output, thereby breaking down linguistic barriers often impeding learning. The AI tutors are designed with distinct, varied personas, resembling candidates from a casting call for young professional educators. This variety of personas enables educators and students to select avatars that best resonate with their personalities and learning styles, further enhancing student comfort and engagement. Marking a significant milestone, on April 22, 2025, announced a groundbreaking collaboration with Israel's Center for Educational Technology to deploy its personalized AI tutoring system nationwide. Beginning in May, the pilot program will engage over 10,000 Israeli students, representing the first large-scale national implementation of AI-driven tutors globally. Harvard University will serve as the program's academic advisor, providing guidance on educational frameworks and rigorously assessing its impact. Israel's tech-forward education system and teacher shortage make this project an ideal testing ground. This pilot aims to validate the effectiveness of personalized AI tutoring at scale and see whether it can produce the same significant improvement in student learning as a good personal tutor can. If successful, this pilot could significantly improve educational equity and access worldwide, offering personalized tutoring to millions. While focuses on natural conversational speech interaction, speech is not the only way AI agents interact with students. Tavus's Conversational Video Interface allows real-time interaction between students and digital agents, complete with voice and video capabilities. Hassaan Raza, CEO of Tavus, describes the 'human layer' AI agents need to realize their full potential as teachers. Agents need to be relatable and able to interact with students in a manner that shows not just subject-domain knowledge but empathy. A robust interface for these agents will include video, allowing students to look the AI in the eye. Significantly, such technology facilitates highly realistic human-like behavior in spoken interactions and imbues the AI with the ability to observe the user and engage based on what is seen. It can recognize emotional cues from students and adjust its responses dynamically, further enhancing the authenticity and depth of interactions. If a student frowns, the avatar might say, 'Let's try another example,' adapting in real time. This type of ability can be essential when a student might be confused and unable to articulate their confusion. In such cases, a good tutor will observe the confusion and ask probing questions until it becomes clear what the confusion is or the lightbulb goes off and the student understands. In contrast to the anthropomorphic avatar approaches of and Tavus, Khan Academy's Khanmigo uses a minimalist geometric figure with expressive eyes, like a friendly cartoon character. It can interact textually or via speech and successfully captures a unique personality that resonates deeply with students. Rather than providing straightforward answers, Khanmigo is designed to be a Socratic guide, steering students toward discovering solutions independently, fostering critical thinking, and deep engagement with the material. Feedback from students has been overwhelmingly positive. Many describe interactions with Khanmigo as akin to working with an actual tutor. Khan Academy reports that students learn more effectively with Khanmigo, with student satisfaction notably higher than traditional learning methods. The personal tone and thoughtful interaction style help students feel supported and motivated, despite lacking a visual or auditory persona. Khanmigo's thoughtful guidance makes it a faithful learning companion, not just a tool. One challenge presented by systems embracing anthropomorphic agents is the phenomenon commonly called 'the uncanny valley,' where near-human likeness causes discomfort. Moderate anthropomorphism, as seen in Khanmigo's simple design, builds trust without unease. The challenge for developers is balancing the quality of the simulated tutors with the level of personality required to make the agent engaging. Being too human-like without making it to the other side of the valley can quickly shift perceptions negatively, undermining the effectiveness of otherwise advanced technological solutions. Thus, AI developers must carefully calibrate the realism of their avatars, balancing the benefits of relatability with the risks of evoking the uncanny valley. By 2026, AI agents could be as standard in classrooms as textbooks. By offering features such as visually rich interactions, emotionally intelligent video conversations, and supportive textual dialogues, the tools move AI from disembodied knowledge to embodied personalities that approximate the types of learning interactions characteristic of the best teacher-student interactions. As these tools evolve, developers must remain mindful of the psychological dynamics. Addressing challenges like the uncanny valley will be pivotal in ensuring AI agents become widely accepted and genuinely beneficial tools within education rather than just being the source material for blooper reels and memes.
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Florence County's largest school district spending $500K on AI initiative
FLORENCE, S.C. (WBTW) — Students in Florence County's largest school district will soon be using AI tools to assist in their learning. Florence 1 Schools in October became the state's first district to create policies for how artificial intelligence should be used in classrooms. Earlier this month, trustees approved $500,000 worth of products for use among the system's nearly 16,000 students. 'A lot of districts talk about AI, but Florence 1 Schools continues to be a leader in AI,' Superintendent Richard O'Malley said in a statement. 'This substantial investment clearly indicates our commitment to AI as a teaching and learning tool.' Here's a breakdown of where the technology is going: Khan Academy's Khanmigo will be used by sixth through 12th graders for tutoring while also analyzing individualized assessments based on student needs Magic School will be used with elementary students, offering more than 80 tools within the platform to help teachers differentiate lessons, generate discussion topics and simplify lesson plans. Gemini is part of the Google Suite that streamlines with other company products already in use by Florence 1 students. 'Over many years we have talked about personalized learning,' Deputy Superintendent Kyle Jones said in a statement. 'AI is going to actually be able to tailor learning for our students. It can serve as the best tutor a student has ever had while also serving as an assistant for our teachers.' Brian Dubose, a school counselor at Advantage Academy who helped the develop the district's AI framework, said he uses the technology daily to monitor students' graduation progress and automatically generate emails to teachers. 'There are some areas where we waste our time,' he said. 'By using AI, I am doing my job more efficiently which gives me more time to do what AI can't — meet with students.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
