San Jose, California, Aug. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- US educators are in full catch-up mode like never before as their jobs have become significantly harder, attempting to fill learning gaps that have been exacerbated by the pandemic lockdown. Various studies have shown that reading and math competency rates of US students dropped sharply during the Covid pandemic. With no direct intervention, experts say it could take years for affected students to catch up, particularly those who had already been struggling before the lockdowns.
Silicon Valley based technology education company Afficient Academy is among those that have stepped up with innovative solutions to help overcome the challenge across the country. Afficient is leveraging the power of artificial intelligence to help educators recover lost ground. While the use of AI is now commonplace across various industries, Dr. Jiayuan Fang, founding CEO of Afficient Academy, points out that the technology remains underutilized in the education sector.
“We have recently completed pilot agreements with several schools who will deploy our program in the next academic year,” says Dr. Fang. “We are also in touch with more schools and educators to help improve student performance in their schools. We are excited to partner with schools and improve student results.”
Dr. Fang says the foundational variance of learning skills among the same class of students is the key issue that Afficient’s AI-powered methodology seeks to address. Foundational variance refers to the learning gaps carried over from previous years. This variance can also be a result of previous educational experiences, and can be made worse by factors such as the pandemic lockdown and the shortage of teachers.
“Foundational variance is often observed in student learning inside classrooms, which can have significant implications for educators, who must design their teaching strategies to deliver the current grade materials, while facing the challenge that not all students are ready for the new material due to various learning gaps. It is extremely difficult for teachers to address individual student needs in filling learning gaps. An AI-based tool is ideal to address individual learning gaps through individualized learning.” explains Dr. Fang.
“This underscores the importance of personalized learning paths and starting points to address the unique needs of each student. Compared to other programs on the market, Afficient Academy’s AI-powered learning platform is perfectly suited to solve this problem by more thoroughly and efficiently finding and filling learning gaps, bringing students up to grade level.”
Afficient Academy’s AI-based learning methodology, which has been accredited by the Western Association of Schools And Colleges (WASC), offers personalized, result-oriented and self-paced learning that makes studying fun and engaging. It starts with an online diagnostic test to assess each child’s skill gaps and determine the starting grade and level. The program then intelligently develops a learning path for the child with personalized exercises designed to ensure all the skills are learned, practiced and mastered, resulting in high marks as a child completes each grade with an optimized learning path. Moreover, the program can offer instant progress monitoring with a dedicated app and automatically generates weekly progress reports that are delivered to the teachers, schools and parents.
“In principle, the AI-based learning methodology works like a GPS – through data analysis we know precisely the skill level of each student and the areas where they need improvement. This allows us to guide each student in the right direction, understand how far they are from their goals, and show them exactly how to reach there in the best path,” explains Dr. Fang.
“So imagine if every class would set aside a certain time to fill in the learning gaps and really build a strong educational foundation for each student. The results would be phenomenal. Teachers will have less stress and workload, and students will have more confidence and learning interests. To achieve this, participation is key. With more schools and students taking advantage of these AI-based programs, the greater benefit will be to everyone. In fact, I expect unprecedented results in school learning as this technology becomes more widespread.”
Media contact
Name: Jiayuan Fang
Email: jiayuan.fang@afficienta.com
