Kevin Byran on AI for Economics Education

Video & Timestamps

On Thursday, December 12, Kevin Bryan joined Markus’ Academy for a conversation on “AI for Economics Education.” Kevin Bryan is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto.

Watch the full presentation below. You can watch all Markus’ Academy webinars on our Markus’ Academy YouTube Channel.

Timestamps:

[0:00] Markus’ introduction

[4:23] Pros and cons of AI in education

[15:01] A path to Bloom’s Two Sigma

[23:28] The free alternatives to raw models

[34:44] AlldayTA

[51:45] Q&A

Executive Summary

A few highlights from the discussion.

• Summary in three bullet points:
  • Education-focused AI can address three key challenges: (1) personalizing education for students, (2) personalizing support for faculty, and (3) ensuring AI tools are used effectively by students
  • Raw models like ChatGPT can be counterproductive, as they may enable cheating and produce hallucinations. Crucially, they can provide answers misaligned with professors’ teaching priorities, particularly in advanced courses. The goal should be to structure LLMs so that they are aligned with a professor’s particular class
  • Restricted models like AlldayTA will solve the three challenges by automating tasks such as creating question banks, grading exams, and tracking student progress, enabling professors and course assistants to concentrate on planning courses and developing content
• Click here for the full summary.