While the start of a new school year is always exciting, this year was even more so for some students at White Cloud Primary School. They became the world's first kids to be"" by an electronic teacher. This electronic teacher is not a human-like robot walking around the classroom. Instead, he is a computer-created head that appears, when needed, on student's computer or phone screens. His name is Bill.
Created by technology company Smart Machines, Bill is able to show human-like behavior. He is designed to teach a special program about environmental-friendly power created by the sun and wind. This program, started in 2005, used to be taught by human teachers.
Just like human teachers, Bill is able to immediately respond to the students' questions and opinions about the topic. Thanks to computer cameras, he is also able to see and react to students physical actions. For example, if a student smiles at Bill, he responds by smiling back. This two-way exchange helps get the students' attention. More importantly, it allows the program developers to improve Bills behavior and knowledge base when needed.
The program has been a great success, according to Smart Machines spokesman Robert Frost Frost says, "What is interesting to me is the children's reaction to Bill. He really captures their attention. "Frost thinks kids don't find the experience of being taught by smart machines as strange as older people becausetheyhave grown up in a time of computers and smart phones.
It is doubtful, however, that human educators will lose their jobs to Bill any time soon. For one, his talking head's knowledge base is not large. More importantly, even the smartest computer programs can't guess and react to all the unexpected situations that educators face daily. Bills future might be as a "personal tutor", providing kids with one-on-one help for different subjects and topics.
