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This year some students at White Cloud Primary School became the world's first kids to be "taught' by an electronic teacher. This electronic teacher is a computer-created head that appears, when needed, oncomputer or phone screens. His name is Bill.
Bill teaches a special program about environmental-friendly powerby the sun and wind. This program, started in 2005, used to be taught by human teachers.
Just like human teachers, Bill is able torespond (回应) to the students' questions and opinions. Thanks to computer cameras, he is also able to see and react (反应) to students'actions. For example, if a student smiles at Bill, he smiles back. This two-way exchange helps get the students' attention. More importantly, it allows the program developers to improve Bill's behavior and knowledge base (库)when needed.
The program has been a greataccording to Smart Machines spokesman Robert Frost. "What is interesting to me is the children's reaction to Bill. He really drawsattention." Frost thinks kids don't find the experience of being taught by smart machines as strange as older people because theyup in a time of computers and smartphones.
It is doubtful that human educatorstheir jobs in the future, because even the smartest computer programs can't guess and react to all thesituations. Bill's future might be as a "personal tutor (导师)",kids with one-on-one help for different subjects and topics.
