PORT RICHEY, Fla. — While there’s a lot of controversy surrounding artificial intelligence, one Pasco County charter school has worked to implement the technology to help students and teachers in the classroom.

What You Need To Know

  • Dayspring Academy has implemented two AI bots, one for teachers and one for students

  • Baxter Bot is an AI dog that helps students with assignments

  • The AI pilot program was created by Scholar Education

  • School administrators say the pilot has been a huge success, and they plan on expanding next year

As part of a pilot program, Dayspring Academy implemented two AI bots, one for teachers and one for students

“We have a teacher’s assistant and a student assistant." said Marlee Strawn, co-founder and head of education for Scholar Education, the company behind the technology. "Our teacher assistant is Professor Bruce, so he helps the teachers with AI lesson planning and data analytics. And then our student assistant is Baxter Bot, and he knows the academic level of the student and he knows what the lesson is for that day."

In one sixth-grade class, students use Baxter Bot to help with assignments. “He" serves as her teaching assistant.

“Baxter is an AI powered dog that helps answer questions about whatever you’re learning,” explained Aria, a student in the class. 

Aria and her classmates are studying Les Misérables, and Baxter is helping them debate their assigned characters.

“I’m asking him about claims that he has on Inspector Javert and the reasoning on why he’s giving these claims,” she said. 

The teacher and Baxter Bot work together — she can view students’ transcripts with Baxter if she needs to, and Baxter not only knows the lesson plan for the day, but he also helps keep students on track.

“It also helps when my teacher may be going a little fast and I can just ask Baxter really quickly to explain what she’s talking about and he’ll tell me," said Mariah, another student in the class. "He’ll answer my questions and give me examples of the question."

School administrators say artificial intelligence is here to stay, and by exposing students to AI now, they’ll be better prepared for their futures.

“It takes away that it’s scary, or it’s a robot, or something I’m unfamiliar with, which makes it easy for them to integrate into their life and to be supportive to them without them really knowing that part of it,” said Dayspring Academy CEO Suzanne Legg.

There are guardrails in place, and while Baxter Bot helps guide students, he doesn’t just give answers.

“I asked him if he could help me brainstorm reasons on how to figure out supporting why Jean Valjean stole, and I also asked him to help me with reasons to counter argue why Jean Valjean stole,” said Mariah. 

Dayspring Academy administrators said the pilot program has gone so well they plan on expanding it next school year to other grade levels and more students.