The University of Florida has taken some of the first steps in its artificial intelligence initiative by creating an artificial intelligence curriculum that is geared toward K-12 students, as well as offering artificial intelligence classes to students.
David Reed, associate provost for strategic initiatives at the University of Florida, said that artificial intelligence helps people with their decision-making.
Reed said that facial recognition can be used to unlocks a phone. It’s used when Amazon predicts products that you might want to buy. When it determines that the traffic light is turning from green to yellow, to red, it starts the slow down of the car for you.
The University of Florida has placed a lot of importance on its Artificial Intelligence initiative, not just in the computer science realm. Reed said that artificial intelligence is beginning to become the forefront of many industries.
He said that it is being applied in all of the disciplines. It was a good idea to start training people in artificial intelligence.
The creation of artificial intelligence classes for students of any major is one part of the initiative. Hannah said that she is glad that the University of Florida is focused on the field of Artificial Intelligence.
She said she loves it. It is so forward-thought. They are trying to be a part of a field that is going to be relevant to our careers.
The purpose of the classes is to give students long-term knowledge of artificial intelligence, not as a requirement for a degree or a grade.
She said that they were making it accessible to anyone with an interest or who didn’t know they had an interest.
The educational technology and computer science departments at the University of Florida have developed a curriculum for young students to get the basics of Artificial Intelligence.
Maya Israel, the associate professor of educational technology and K-12 computer science education, said the goal in developing this education was for young students to learn about artificial intelligence through technology that they are already familiar with, such as Amazon and Google Home products.
She said artificial intelligence is influencing a lot of what they are doing. For children to be able to navigate a world that is informed by artificial intelligence, it is important that they understand it.
Israel said that her lab at the College of Education focused on the curriculum side of the project, while a professor in the computer science department worked on the interface in her lab
In the past two years, Israel and Boyer have led AI learning sessions at local summer camps, where students from the University of Florida taught middle schoolers the basics of artificial intelligence.
Israel said that they were able to create a bot in whatever they wanted. Some created chatBots that would give fashion advice, historical facts, or talk about sports. They were able to program the Home to say things like “Hey Google, tell me where I can buy shoes,” or “Hey Google, tell me facts about this basketball player.”
When she was younger, she wishes she had the chance to take the classes Israel and Boyer created.
Everyone is going to need to know about Artificial Intelligence, especially for people in middle school and elementary school. Artificial intelligence is going to be more relevant.
