Once again Morehouse College is bringing innovation to the classroom.
As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the Historically Black College and University (HBCU) made history in 2022 for being the first college to offer classes in the metaverse. Less than two years later, it is now poised to disrupt the education landscape for the better through the launch of reportedly the world’s first fully spacial artificial intelligence (AI) teaching assistants.
Muhsinah Morris, a senior assistant professor in education and metaversity director at Morehouse College, developed the technology in spring 2021 with the assistance of faculty such as Ovell Hamilton, Ethell Vereen Jr., and Tanya Clark, she mentioned on LinkedIn. She also benefited from a partnership with VictoryXR and received backing from Southern Company, Qualcomm, Meta, Unity, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and T-Mobile.
“I am so proud of Morehouse College Metaversity Faculty and MetaHouse Scholars who keep this work going full throttle regardless of the challenges. I am blessed with the best team,” she expressed on LinkedIn.
Now, beginning with the 2024 fall semester, students can expect to receive support from the AI teaching assistants, which will be able to manage assessments and office hours, ensure 24/7 access, and offer 3D demonstrations.
“These are different from chat bots because, one, they’re conversational. Two, they’re 3D, and you might just hear my AI TA speak Mandarin,” Morris explained in a video shared by VictoryXR on LinkedIn. “The advantages to our AI TA’s is that it allows for personalized learning for every scholar on their own schedules. This is the first deployment of fully functional AI TAs. Morehouse College led with Metaversities, and we are going to lead the world in bringing in AI to the classroom. What we’re really trying to do with these AI TAs is bring joy back to the classroom. To ignite curiosity in our students and to get them to love learning no matter what time of day it is.”