Morris Dixon: AI academic assistant to be launched for Jamaican students

Education Minister Dr Dana Morris Dixon is advocating for the strategic use of artificial intelligence (AI) and technology to transform Caribbean classrooms, while also stressing the need to maintain core human aspects of education.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the inaugural Caribbean Examination Council Regional Education Conference at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston on Tuesday, Morris Dixon stated that education systems across the region are being reshaped by new technologies, requiring stakeholders to take bold steps.

To this end, she announced that Jamaica will be introducing a number of AI systems to support the national curriculum.

“We’re introducing very shortly the Jamaica Learning Assistant. When this is launched, every child in Jamaica will have a 24/7 AI-powered academic assistant that is tailored to the national curriculum. That’s a big deal,” she said.

She noted that the AI was trained on the National Standard Curriculum, and altered to be culturally relevant and to cater to the learning styles of students.

“And so, that will be available to every student on their phone, on their tablet. So you’ve learned something in school, you can go home and you can use the Learning Assistant to further give you more,” she said.

“Depending on how you learn, some students are very visual. You can ask it to teach you visually. Some may want to hear stories, you can ask it to tell you stories. Some are a little bit more fun, and want to hear jokes. And so, you can ask it to tell you jokes,” she added, noting that the AI was also taught to speak Jamaican Patois.

EAGLE EYE FOR TEACHERS

Morris Dixon said the Government is also piloting a software tool called Eagle Eye, which handles the “more mundane task” of marking of examination papers.

“Eagle Eye will help our teachers to reprioritise their time from marking to coaching students. Technology will certainly not replace our teachers, but it can enhance teaching, and it can also free up time to really spend it with our students,” she said.

With the support of international partners, she said the Ministry of Education, Youth, Skills and Information is launching its Education Management Information System, which gives school administrators real-time data on attendance, performance, and resource management. It also allows policymakers to create a unified, evidence-based view of the education system.

Morris Dixon said the ministry has also been keen to ensure that special-needs schools are not left behind in the technology transformation taking place in the sector.

“In Jamaica, we say we want our children to be conversant with artificial intelligence, because too often in this region, we’ve just been consumers of the technology. And if we make them conversant with the technology, then we’re doing that in the hopes that they will become producers of the technology, which is really where we need to get to,” she said.

However, she noted that “in the midst of this AI whirlwind, we must preserve what is most human and most essential in education, and these are curiosity ... character, critical thinking, creativity, empathy, and purpose”.

The minister stressed that AI does not remove the need for judgement or ethics, but, rather, increases the need. She declared that regional education systems should be on guard for overreliance on this technology.

“The question we have before us is not whether AI will enter education. It’s already here and it’s not going anywhere. The question is whether we as leaders have clear frameworks for its responsible use; whether we will build digital literacy, not just digital exposure; whether we will teach students to use powerful tools wisely, critically and ethically,” she said.

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com