VIRTUAL: Learning. Life. Work.

Abstract

Personalised learning is extremely valuable for improving teaching and learning outcomes (Sancenon et al., 2022). Personalised learning from a young age is even more valuable to enable a robust foundation and the ability for children to grow cognitively (Yapa et al., 2021). Few solutions exist apart from direct parent and tutor-led interventions which are limited to a few hours a week. Furthermore, parents want high involvement in their children’s early stage learning and development. This is not possible especially in families where both parents work. Generative AI can be inserted into children’s learning products to provide personalised learning and direct parental involvement at scale. In this study, two apps using generative AI; Teddy AI (APP) and Teddy AI Guardian Dashboard (GD) were used to test personalised learning capability for children under 7 years and parent participation in their learning and development journey. Four online focus groups with 22 parents across the UK were conducted where parents used the GD and saw its use in the APP. The second stage of the study conducted 6 in-depth one-to-one interviews with parents of the target persona; a parent who is working and has at least one child aged seven or under. Results showed that they found the Generative AI enabled personalisation and ability to prompt to be part of the learning journey extremely useful. Furthermore, they found the GD easy to use, appreciated the analytics the GD provided, and overall found it beneficial for being part of their children’s development.