Background

The Online Course Enhanced Learning Intelligent Assistant, or OCELIA, is a web-based AI chat-bot built for first and second year Geography students. When it comes to discussions surrounding class readings, first-year students are often unsure of how to approach the articles or book chapters in a way that prompts effective academic discussion. This project aims to use artificial intelligence to expand student’s understanding of course readings, themes, and learning objectives by acting as a tutor, asking questions and encouraging the student to move past the reading and apply the concepts to other course topics.

Objective

This project aims to develop a web-based AI application that helps Geography students critically engage with course content through active discussion. To accomplish this, the AI will be trained on journals, book chapters, and other class materials provided by the Principal Investigator. By feeding it a wide range of articles and concepts, our aim is to create an AI that can apply ideas from multiple articles, thereby allowing the students to see the connections between the class materials and lectures, thereby allowing for class discussions that are not restricted to one article or reading.

The Team

Principal Investigators

• Dr. Siobhán McPhee, Associate Professor of Teaching, Department of Geography

Subject Matter Expert

• Dr. Micheal Jerowsky, Sessional Lecturer, Department of Geography

Student Team

• Mariane Olivan, Project Lead, UX/UI Designer (May 2024 – July 2024)
• Walker Rout, Developer (May 2024 – July 2024)

Staff

• Frederik Svendsen, Staff Developer (May 2024 – July 2024)
• Anushka Sharma, Staff Designer (May 2024 – July 2024)