Project DIALOGS
Active 2021–
Conversational AI learning experiences for middle schoolers, built around AMBY — a development environment designed for young people.
- Where
- University of Florida
- With
- Kristy Boyer, Maya Israel, Tom McKlin, Xiaoyi Tian, Yukyeong Song, Shan Zhang, Gloria Katuka, Mehmet Celepkolu, Joanne Barrett, Christine Wise
- Links
Project DIALOGS offers conversational AI learning experiences to middle school students through informal summer camps and formal classroom integration. Aligned with the AI4K12 big ideas, the curriculum incorporates foundational AI concepts, conversational AI, unplugged activities and collaborative creation of conversational agents similar to Siri or Google Assistant.
There is a noticeable lack of tools developmentally suitable for youth learning to construct conversational applications. To address this we developed AMBY ("AI Made By You"), a development environment designed specifically for young people to create conversational agents. We conducted contextual inquiries and usability studies with middle school students over 14 months to shape AMBY around their needs. Students can produce training data and design conversational flows for their agents.
We have run AMBY in three summer camps over two years. Learners reported that it empowered them to develop personally meaningful projects, and results show significant increases in ability beliefs, willingness to share their learning, and intent to persist in AI learning. We have also deployed AMBY in local middle schools to integrate it into formal science curricula.
AMBY system demo
Past Summer Camps
Team