To support the educators and assist in grouping learners (which can be time-consuming to organise) the virtual assistant overtakes the task. The virtual assistant enables grouping student based on different criteria depending on teacher’s pedagogical goals and judgement:
Example of near future scenario:
The virtual teaching assistant asks the teacher how to arrange the students for the session: would s/he want grouping to be based on the same ability, mixed abilities, common interests, etc.? The teacher decides on “mixed-ability” groups. Next, the virtual teaching assistant displays the student groupings on the nearest wall. The teacher decides to make some changes, s/he drag one name, then another, to swap two students’ placements into different groups. Soon the students are coming through the door. They will each see a specific colour glowing on their personal learning tablet.
Source: Vuorikari, R., Punie, Y., & Cabrera Giraldez, M. (2020). Emerging technologies and the teaching profession: Ethical and pedagogical considerations based on near-future scenarios.
NEAR-FUTURE SCENARIOS, 4.1.2. Automating administrative tasks and answering common queries, Scenario 2
Find more: https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC120183
Available
today:
Some
educational apps already help educators with grouping a certain number of
learners in a group, or randomly grouping them by names.
ClassroomScreen
https://classroomscreen.com/
ClassDojo https://www.classdojo.com/de-de/?redirect=true
Moodle https://docs.moodle.org/311/en/Groups#Auto-create_groups