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An Abuja school has unveiled, as part of its extracurricular measures, an artificial intelligence (AI) teacher code called “Mr Okeke”, the first of its kind in Africa.
The AI teacher, a virtual character, “Mr Okeke”, runs on trillions of parameters of the global knowledge base, making him smarter than all the world’s secondary school teachers combined.
Speaking at the launch of the WBS AI Teacher at the school, Whiteplains British School principal Dr Francis Nwufoh noted that the innovation was the product of “a very rigorous but engaging atmosphere.
According to Dr Nwufoh, the AI Teacher launched by the intellectual school is aimed at positioning and enhancing personalized learning, daily learning support, improving academic performance, encouraging independent learning, supporting teachers, bridging learning gaps, promoting digital literacy, increasing student engagement, enhancing the school’s reputation and preparing students for the future.
Innovative solutions such as AI Teacher in secondary schools, Nwufoh further said, represent a strategic investment in the future of education, improving learning outcomes, empowering teachers and equipping students with 21st century skills.
The WBS owner said the launch of “Mr Okeke”, an AI teacher, aims to complement the efforts of teachers by making teaching and learning more effective and engaging and not replace them.
“You know nowadays that children don’t like to bend down and study. So we brought this innovation to make them study more, read and write.
“It is part of our learning policy here to ensure that the students you are meeting are trained in line with the best international standards.
“With this AI technology, you can also be a doctor, a professor, or whatever you want to be in the world, because the amount of data stored in the AI teacher is too much. It has different brain layers.
“We started this innovation because Whiteplains British School has been a world-class school in Africa and we want to maintain this pace.
That is why we have gone a step further to introduce world-class technology, “Mr Okeke”, an AI-animated teacher, a first in this country and in all of Africa. You saw the excitement in the students,” Dr. Nwufoh said.
The school’s ICT trainer and developer, Onos Edokpolor, added that the AI teacher offers students an engaging learning experience that keeps them curious and enthusiastic.
“It teaches both international and Nigerian curricula.
Now we’ve programmed learning into entertainment because if students see a fictional character that’s like a movie, that they can interact with and now they can teach a lesson, it’s going to be something very exciting.
“The responses we receive from students are encouraging because they are not under pressure to learn; they are relaxed and talk to a fictional character, “Mr Okeke”, who is there at all times to listen to their questions and respond accordingly.
“You can get 200MB of data, which is less than N200, and it is enough to get 5 training sessions from the AI tutor, he said.
Dr Nwufoh also revealed that the
students created a safety app called Dude Stay Safe (DSS) “to help save the day in the safety situation across the country.”
“We have developed other things, such as the safety app, which the students invented.
“Even if a child or student has problems anywhere, just by shaking the phone, some contacts registered on the phone will be alerted.
“The children you see here are well protected, even if they are alone or kidnapped.
All they have to do is shake the phone and it will send signals to all police formations in the country and also to the school management, the WBS owner hinted.
WBS ICT trainer, Edokpolor, explained that the security application features advanced tracking tools, as well as live audio and video feeds that automatically activate through intense vibration sensors triggered when the phone is dropped, crashed or experiences excessive shock, simulating a crime scene.
