WGU Adopts Aera Technology's Decision Intelligence to Improve Results
With over 180,000 students engaging in online courses around the clock, Western Governors University is sitting on a goldmine of data. This data is thought to hold the key to revolutionizing support services in higher education, marking a novel step in this field. Gathering and organizing this data is merely the beginning; the real challenge lies in finding the time, opportunity, and resources for instructors to analyze this data, thereby enhancing student outcomes. By adopting Aera Technology's Decision Intelligence, WGU is now equipping its students and faculty to make the most of this data resource, empowering instructors to provide tailored assistance to their students.
Decision Intelligence transcends Artificial Intelligence
Joe Dery, WGU's Vice President and Dean in the School of Technology, underlined that AI is merely a tool. The challenge lies in leveraging AI to influence better decisions. Jennie Sanders, WGU's Vice President of Instruction, added that there's a common misconception equating AI with large language models. The challenge is understanding how to choreograph the whole experience to make sense of the data and utilize it to induce impact.
To meet this challenge, WGU is integrating Aera Decision Cloud, a Decision Intelligence technology platform that brings together AI, machine learning, and automation. This platform makes data accessible, helping to uncover patterns, forecast outcomes, and propose actions to promote continuous improvement.
This isn't merely about automation; it's about enhancing human decision-making capabilities with real-time insights and predictive analytics. In this context, decisions themselves are treated as data, and the results of these decisions are factored into future decisions. A significant feature of the Aera platform is "Aera Skills", which are customized, digitized decisions that deliver real-time, data-driven suggestions to tackle specific business challenges and can be automatically accepted. The platform learns from every decision generated by a Skill, creating a permanent memory with the relevant context to enable users to monitor and increase the influence of decisions over time.
Decision Intelligence guides when to take action
Applying this framework to student learning involves examining crucial moments in a student's course journey where decisions need to be made about the next action. The Decision Intelligence layer can assess the student's situation, their background, the performance of comparable students, and the success of the involved instructors with such students. It can then make appropriate recommendations, monitor the outcome, and ensure continuous improvement.
Joe Dery likens the system's potential to a GPS route planner. Traditional teaching can be compared to using a paper map to navigate down the learning road. As more data becomes available, the opportunity to optimize routes to cater to student needs, instructor preferences, and resource availability emerges. For instance, you could track whether someone is ready to tackle an exam right away or would be better served by taking a detour to review and refuel before facing the exam.
Faculty's Reaction to Decision Intelligence
Implementing new educational technology usually faces a significant challenge: engagement. If the technology fails to improve faculty life through time or efficiency gains or indirectly via improved learner outcomes, it may encounter resistance. This has been a hurdle in deploying unstructured AI solutions. A fresh tool may seem appealing on paper, but its appeal can fade once the practicalities of the academic calendar set in.
The WGU team believes that Decision Intelligence will avoid these challenges. To illustrate this, Joe Dery cites an instance where Decision Intelligence was implemented as a sales quota-setting tool for managers in an earlier company. Over a three-year period, attitude towards the system shifted from skepticism to enthusiastic acceptance. The secret to success: showing managers the impact of their decisions. Managers remained empowered with the system collecting data, suggesting, but ultimately letting the managers make the final decision. The system would then track outcomes, allowing managers to see the benefits from using the system.
Similarly, the faculty at WGU is responding positively to Decision Intelligence. The team can present the data, propose recommendations, and let the instructors make the final decision, then monitor the results and show the outcomes and the potential outcomes from having made different decisions. By educating the faculty on their impact, rather than merely monitoring outcomes and using them as performance management tools, culture can shift towards embracing data and the Decision Intelligence approach.
WGU Kicks off Decision Intelligence Initiative's First Phase
Jennie Sanders mentioned that WGU is well-positioned because "the faculty believe it will work." They will commence the first phase of their Decision Intelligence initiative with a cohort of 10,000 students. The skill in question is using student behavior in the course to determine when students are ready for their first substantive objective assessment. Research has shown that performance on this assessment is a good predictor of overall success, so it's beneficial to ensure students are ready before they take the test. However, students often lack clarity on when they're prepared to take the test. By employing Decision Intelligence, the system will suggest who's ready and when. The impact should be immediately observable in the exam attempt rate and pass rate.
The WGU team highlighted that their efforts have caught the attention of the Gates Foundation. They hope this approach can be adopted by other higher education institutions. To make the tool portable, WGU is building it as a wrapper that does not rely on a specific student information system or learning management system.
The toughest task for any curriculum creators is figuring out a method to maintain students within their zone of probable growth. When dealing with single students, educators can tailor the design to suit their requirements. However, handling a group of students turns out to be considerably more complicated. As a tool for surveillance, AI can monitor every move a student makes. By integrating the Decision Intelligence layer and having the necessary abilities, one can monitor all instructor actions and move towards automating the best initial response from an instructor. Proper implementation should gradually feel similar to 1-on-1 sessions with an instructor, yet without the hassle of aligning with the instructor's schedule or competing for their attention with other students.
WGU has the student base and courses to conduct this experiment on a large scale. Now, the real challenge lies in assessing how effectively Decision Intelligence can boost student performance.
In aligning with WGU's Decision Intelligence initiative, AI education through Western Governors University now benefits from Aera Technology's Decision Intelligence, enabling instructors to make data-driven decisions and provide tailored assistance to students. Furthermore, by adopting Aera's customized, digitized suggestive tools, WGU facilitates continuous improvement in its student learning journey.
