Covid had a significant impact on students, and in turn, teachers. The pandemic worsened educational outcomes and increased educational inequalities Europe wide: According to a 2022 European Commission report, students showed a significant decline of 25% in their reading comprehension skills compared to 2018. Simultaneously, demands on teachers to address these shortfalls and keep up with a constantly chancing educational landscape increased, at the same time as the EU is experiencing widespread teacher shortages.
Within this complex reality, EYE-TEACH is a new EU-funded project that seeks to present a novel solution to these issues. Bringing together a partnership of Universities, research institutions, and companies operating within innovative education, coordinated by the University of Turku, EYE-TEACH will research and develop an AI-assisted Eye-Tracking tool to aid teachers in supporting students’ learning comprehension.
EYE-TEACH will make use of eye tracking data that tracks the duration and location of a student’s eye focus. Even though such methodologies have not yet broken into mainstream educational practices, it has been used in conducting educational research for a few years. This technology provides accurate insights on student’s reading habits and behaviours. This technology is able to capture wide ranges of metrics on each individual student, such as their cognitive abilities, their emotional response and interest levels in what they are reading, recognition of individual words, and general patterns of reading strategies.
When coupling this real-time data with AI assisted technologies, students’ engagement with texts can be continuously assessed by educators in a classroom setting, identifying when students need additional help. The AI algorithm that will be built into the system can instantaneously assess and analyse the incoming eye-tracking data and make suggestions for action, further supporting the teacher in their day-to-day work. For instance, it could highlight that a particular word has proven difficult for a majority of students, or that a section of text is not engaging. It can also highlight if there are individuals lagging behind their peers, serving as an early indicator of students with reading difficulties. In this manner, teachers and other educators can tackle students individually, according to their abilities, whilst also staying on track with the workload given.
Importantly, the EYE-TEACH project acknowledges the vital importance of data protection and will seek to develop the EYE TEACH technology in a responsible manner A core element of the work programme revolves around assessing European rules and regulations, primarily GDPR and the AI Act, to ensure that the research and developed technologies are fully aligned and ethical.
AcrossLimits will be responsible for the Communications and Dissemination of this project. We are responsible for building and engaging the EYE-TEACH ecosystem for stakeholder co-creation, interaction and dissemination to make sure EYE-TEACH is recognised. Our role will include organising workshops and activities for educators, and ensuring that all training and materials related to EYE-TEACH is made available for stakeholders.
EYE-TEACH is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
