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Giving
teaching an
upgrade
34 OTM|10.01.16 | The Observer
In Brazil, a shortage of
funding and staff has
blighted the education
system for decades.
Now machine-learning
software is helping
teachers to deliver a
complete school
syllabus tailored to
each pupil. And it
learns as it goes along,
writes Claire Rigby
Claudio Sassaki,
co-founder of Geekie, a
digital startup that has
revolutionised education
in Brazil. Photograph by
Germano Lders/Abril
Comunications
35
Education
Brazil is so
diverse. Its
crucially
important
to have
information
coming in
from pupils
all over the
country
F
that are prerequisites for more complex
subjects, producing material that can be
analysed and incorporated by Geekies
human education professionals.
The more the student uses the
software, the more successfully
targeted its teaching can become,
says Sassaki, and the same is true, he
says, of the entire platform: the more
students use it, the better it becomes
for everyone. Scale is everything, he
says. Speaking at the companys So
Paulo headquarters, Sassaki explains
that operating with as many people as
possible using Geekie is essential to
capitalise on the exponential properties
of the algorithms. The machine
is making correlations all the time,
discerning and understanding patterns,
he says. The more data we have, the
better it can do that.
Its partly for that reason that
37
Education
Ca n s o f t wa r e t e ac h b e t t e r t h a n t e ac h e r s ?
What is adaptive
learning?
A highly personalised
online learning method
that adapts to users
needs in real time.
Software provides
feedback that helps
learners progress
at their own pace. It
knows who you are,
what youve already
understood (or not) and
decides what youre
going to see next based
on your performance.
In a class using
adaptive learning
software, each student
will be learning the
same syllabus, but at
their own pace, often
using different types of
lessons.
Who are the main
providers?
Knewton, based in New
York, is a big provider
to schools and claims to
have 10 million students
worldwide. It also has
an office in London.
Aleks (Assessment and
Learning in Knowledge
Spaces), owned by
McGraw-Hill Education,
Students
need good
teachers
and for tech
to remain
part of the
process,
rather than
becoming
the process
Adaptive learning
systems often use
multiple choice
questions and some
subjects such as
computer science are
obviously much better
suited to being taught in
this way than others.
learning platform
Cogbooks in 2014
to add personalised
learning to computing
GCSE massive online
open course (Mooc).
It was used by 20,000
students in 2015.
CogBooks is also
working with Cambridge
University in 120 UK
schools and is hoping to
expand this year.
What are its limitations?
It can be expensive to
develop and can require
schools to invest in
technology up front.
Classrooms may also
need to be restructured.