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The emergence of generative AI has accelerated the development of conversational tutoring systems that interact with students through natural language dialogue. Unlike prior intelligent tutoring systems (ITS), which largely function as adaptive and interactive problem sets with feedback and hints, conversational tutors hold the potential to simulate high-quality human tutoring by engaging with students' thoughts, questions, and misconceptions in real time. While some previous ITS, such as AutoTutor, could respond conversationally, they were expensive to author and lacked a full range of conversational ability. Generative AI has changed the capacity of ITS to engage conversationally. However, realizing the full potential of conversational tutors requires careful consideration of what research on human tutoring and ITS has already established, while also unpacking what new research will be needed. This paper synthesizes tenets of successful human tutoring, lessons learned from legacy ITS, and emerging work on conversational AI tutors. We use a keep, change, center, study framework for guiding the design of conversational tutoring. We argue that systems should keep proven methods from prior ITS, such as knowledge tracing and affect detection; change how tutoring is delivered by leveraging generative AI for dynamic content generation and dialogic scaffolding; and center opportunities for meaning-making, student agency, and granular diagnosis of reasoning. Finally, we identify areas requiring further study, including efficacy testing, student experience, and integration with human instruction. By synthesizing insights from human tutoring, legacy ITS, and emerging generative AI technologies, this paper outlines a research agenda for developing conversational tutors that are scalable, pedagogically effective, and responsive to the social and motivational dimensions of learning.
This study explores the characteristics, motivators, and enablers of US educators, who earned more than ten micro-credentials. Although research exists on attitudes and motivators associated with educators newly engaging with micro-credentials, it lacks insights into learners earning many micro-credentials. This study uses a mixed-methods methodology with an explanatory sequential design. About 98 participants completed the quantitative survey and 18 participated in the interviews. Participants noted that their primary interest in pursuing micro-credentials was ignited by extrinsic factors; however, sustained persistence in earning many micro-credentials shifted motivators toward intrinsic factors. Participants displayed similar behaviors toward sharing and earning micro-credentials, perceived value placed on micro-credentials, the use of micro-credentials for professional goals, and perceptions of micro-credential value. This data is significant because there is limited research on the characteristics, motivators, and enablers for earning more than 10 micro-credentials and describes what participants need for the continual pursuit of micro-credentials.
In contemporary U.S. society, the perception of the nature of science varies, ranging from the view that it is a neutral practice to one that positions science as constantly shifting and informed by oppressive dynamics. Within these differences, there are scrutinized subject matters such as those pertaining to sex, sexual reproduction, and gender (SSRG), which are commonplace in many undergraduate biology curricula. Using a multiple-site, embedded case study design, this research examined how biology instructors at the postsecondary level conceptualized science and SSRG topics, together with how students responded to their teaching. Informed by interviews with students and the instructors themselves, findings brought to light three different categories of instruction, those who: 1) explicitly communicated to students that science is not a neutral practice and spoke about SSRG topics in expansive ways that reflected the complex relationship between science and society; 2) perceived the nature of science as constantly evolving, but without explicitly articulating connections to sociocultural influences; 3) appeared to hold non-neutral and complex views about both science and SSRG topics, but communicated their frames in muted and implicit ways because they navigated complicated teaching contexts.
