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Coursera Adds ChatGPT-Powered Learning Tools

  • By Kate Lucariello
  • 04/19/23

At its 11th annual conference in 2023, educational company Coursera announced it is adding ChatGPT-powered interactive ed tech tools to its learning platform, including a generative AI coach for students and an AI course-building tool for teachers. It will also add machine learning-powered translation, expanded VR immersive learning experiences, and more.

Coursera Coach will give learners a ChatGPT virtual coach to answer questions, give feedback, summarize video lectures and other materials, give career advice, and prepare them for job interviews. This feature will be available in the coming months.

Instructors can create courses with AI-assisted course building, the company said in a release, by using prompts to generate "course content, structure, descriptions, tags, readings, assignments, glossaries " and suggest other course materials already included on Coursera. This tool will be piloted to selected education partners later in 2023.

Machine learning-powered translation at scale will allow learners to translate "thousands of course readings, lecture video subtitles, quizzes, assessments, peer review instructions, and discussion prompts, Coursera said in its release. Over 2,000 courses will be translated from English into Spanish, French, German, Arabic, Portuguese, Thai, and Indonesian to accommodate the over 35 million registered Coursera learners in countries with these official languages.

These moves are being made because "the astonishing rise of generative AI creates new possibilities for personalized and interactive learning, " said Jeff Maggioncalda, Coursera CEO. "As businesses adopt generative AI to improve customer offerings and productivity, it will also create an unprecedented demand for re-skilling – with up to 49% of workers having half or more of their tasks exposed to large language models. "

In light of that, several organizations are offering new AI and machine learning-focused courses through Coursera:

In addition, several new VR course experiences will expand immersive learning opportunities on the platform. "The VR additions complement the courses ' existing lecture videos, readings, and assessments, are designed for learners of all educational backgrounds, and increase in difficulty as a learner progresses through the course material. They can be experienced via desktop or most VR headsets and are available in both paid and audited versions of each course, " Coursera explained in a blog post. The new VR elements will be incorporated into courses from Duke, Peking University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Washington, covering a range of topics such as public speaking, leadership, human physiology, mobility, language learning, and training for healthcare practitioners. To learn more about this feature, see demonstration videos, and read about the Meta AR certificate courses, visit the VR Course Experiences blog page.

For more information about what Coursera offers for universities, visit its Coursera for Campus page.

About the Author

Kate Lucariello is a former newspaper editor, EAST Lab high school teacher and college English teacher.

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