Before I started the IP&T 520 class this Spring Term (2021), I didn’t even have the idea of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in my head as a way to help with lifelong education. I just knew that there were some instructional design theories still undiscovered—according to Elder L. Tom Perry (1996)—and I wanted to find out what they were. As I stated in my Letter of Intent for my application to the IP&T program: As I’ve thought more about the quote from Elder Perry, I imagine that these “new” designs and learning theories will probably be centered around the personal learning environments of the individual and the integration of these personal learnings into a community of learners.
About 15 years ago I took a class from Dr. Andrew Gibbons at BYU and became interested in design layers and design languages. I knew when I came back for a PhD that I wanted to look more into these areas as possible ways to help structure learning. I also came to this 520 class with Mary Parker Follett’s (1918, 1924), observations about teaching and learning, and the teacher/student relation. I knew that I wanted to incorporate her ideas into anything that I would develop as a theory of design, and/or that the design theories I was looking for would possess a semblance of her ideas.
As I mentioned in my 520 journal, my idea for AI in education and to find out if/how it is used, came about not from reading about it for education. I wanted a way for me to use AI to act as a memory storage and retrieval unit with some design layers mixed in to keep everything straight—and I wanted my “Aha!” learning moments to be preserved. I wanted AI technology to hold onto things that I had learned previously and preserve the emotional reactions from the moment when the learning had occurred. In tandem with the functions of this tool, I wanted AI to bring to mind—such as a periodical reminder through Siri or Alexa— things I had committed to memory over time so I could hang on to the learnings.
When we were assigned in class to officially Tell Heather What You Will Do for Your Final Project I came up with the following: I want to write a literature review discussing AI as a curation tool for niche/personalized education and/or the roles of AI in Education, and develop ideas about design layers that may be involved in using such a tool.