Stories and meaning
AI tutor designer
Designing how a machine should teach one specific thing, including when it should refuse to give the answer.
Written by Nivaan, founder of OffLadder ยท Last reviewed
Test it this week
Take one thing you can teach and write a tutoring script that never states the answer, only questions and hints. Try it on someone and note where you were tempted to just tell them.
What the work actually contains
- Breaking a subject into the order a learner actually gets stuck in
- Writing the wrong answers, hints and questions the system should use
- Watching real learners use it and noticing where they game it
- Deciding what the system must never do, such as finishing the work for them
Why it is appearing now
Every education product now has a conversational tutor, and most are bad in the same way: they answer instead of teaching.
What AI changes about it
It provides the tutor's voice. What it cannot supply is the pedagogy: knowing which misconception comes first, and holding back the answer.
The human abilities it leans on
- Teaching instinct, formal or not
- Writing clearly and briefly
- Noticing what a learner is actually confused about
What it can grow out of
- Teaching, tutoring, coaching, training
- Instructional design and content writing
- Being the person friends ask to explain things
What nobody knows yet
Whether this sits with teachers, designers or engineers.
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