The Community Builder (CoBi): Helping Students to Develop Better Small Group Collaborative Learning Skills

Thomas Breideband, Jeffrey B. Bush, Chelsea Chandler, Michael Alan Chang, Rachel Dickler, Peter W. Foltz, Ananya Ganesh, Rachel Lieber, William R. Penuel, Jason G. Reitman, John Weatherley, Sidney D'Mello

Abstract: The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in K-12 education is showing considerable promise to enhance student learning, yet existing tools continue to situate AI tutoring firmly within the context of one-on-one instruction and personalized learning. As HCI, learning science, and team science researchers we envision AI to help students become better collaborators—a highly valued skill for their lives after school. In this demonstration we present “CoBi”—a multi-party AI partner that focuses on the relationship dimension of collaboration. CoBi helps students to co-negotiate classroom agreements along four dimensions: respect, equity, community, and thinking. CoBi then uses state-of-the-art speech and language technologies to look for and visualize evidence of these agreements as they occur during small group student talk. Through these feedback visualizations, students can hone collaboration skills, collaboratively reflect about and identify areas for improvement, and develop critical AI literacy skills.