TORONTO, May 16, 2024 /CNW/ - In a ground-breaking change for post-secondary education in Canada, Studiosity, a global leader in educational technology, has unveiled an innovative AI-powered learning support system that is already revolutionizing the student experience and promoting critical thinking skills at the university level.

Despite being newly-released AI technology, the formative writing feedback has already been extensively researched by university teams in the UK, Australia, and Canada, with positive outcomes demonstrated across all key student success metrics. The real game-changer is for ease of set up for universities and for serving all students equally – a problem with previous student support – with the near-instant feedback capability eliminating 24-hour waits for feedback, ensuring more equitable impact across all student cohorts, including those traditionally unengaged or managing competing life commitments such as carer duties, family, and employment.

Filling a gap in the market for trusted AI at the post-secondary level: Edtech tools historically cross a boundary into doing work for students, or conversely, require huge inputs from already time-poor staff to function. Studiosity's two decades of 'help not answers' has earned them the trust of 200+ post-secondary institutions already, and this is accelerated with the provision of unique AI built on ethics, critical thinking, and ensuring human and peer connection – all under the same 'help not answers' policy.

"Students acquire lots of information off the web and AI can deliver enormous amounts of information very easily, but learning has always been the challenge and the value of education. Delivering learning is much harder," reflects Alan Shaver, former President and Vice-Chancellor of Thompson Rivers University, and Studiosity Academic Advisory Board.

Canadian students are demanding AI support: The majority (54%) of Canadian students expect their university to offer AI support tools, as revealed in a global study conducted by YouGov with Studiosity. Notably, students who have been traditionally-underrepresented and in some cases under-supported are more likely to expect their university to offer AI support tools.

"Many of the students are concerned that we are not thinking through the benefits of AI for instructional purposes, that universities are not sufficiently attentive to their needs for peer mentors, for personal program and study advice, and for creating an environment that is committed to teaching and learning, not just achieving high rankings in the global marketplace," says Dr Noreen Golfman, Former Provost and Vice President Academic at Memorial University, St John's, Newfoundland and Studiosity Academic Advisory Board.

"Reading this report validates so much of what we already suspect. The integrity of the learning experience is undermined when our universities are too slow or too reluctant to respond to our students' needs for more support in a variety of ways. How quickly and thoughtfully we respond to the recommendations in this study will determine how successful we are in keeping pace with an increasingly diverse student body."

Positive outcomes: Over 25 studies into the service demonstrate impact, including 15% grade improvement and increased confidence, regardless of academic starting point, firmly establishing the efficacy of Studiosity's AI-powered learning support and driving trust amongst Canadian post-secondary leaders and educators.

Feedback in minutes, for all: The revolutionary fast feedback feature addresses a critical gap in traditional support systems, significantly impacting equity and inclusivity by catering to diverse student needs.

Balancing cognitive activity: Recognizing the need for a delicate balance between AI support and cognitive d, Studiosity's solution enhances critical thinking skills, assuring the post-secondary sector that this technology augments, rather than diminishes, the learning experience.

"Accessible, ethical, proven feedback for all is a baseline requirement for the student experience in 2024. It is gratifying to hear such a positive response from educators in Canada, particularly institutions that are investing in a student-centric approach. It's clear that all post-secondary institutions will need to move quickly to this level of support and scrutinise the ethics and evidence behind all supports and services. Not only because students are explicitly asking for this level of accessible, trusted support, as we can see in this year's Wellbeing Survey, but also to protect the institutional and reputational growth of Canadian post-secondary institutions and degrees," reflects Vice President for Studiosity Canada, Chris Helsby.

"With our AI-for-learning and peer connection Studiosity services, we are already seeing post-secondary institutions in the UK and Australia scale up access to trusted AI support and feedback to both meet student expectations as well as grow success and participation," says Studiosity CEO Michael Larsen.

"Postsecondary leaders can accelerate the integration of AI support tools for learning, particularly in Australia, the UK, and Canada, where students have doubts about their universities adapting fast enough (55%, 64%, and 60%, respectively). Leaders can also rise to meet students' expectations in the UAE and Saudi Arabia - where students have some of the highest expectations in the world for AI learning support (84% and 78.59% respectively)."

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The Global Wellbeing survey was conducted by YouGov, and ran from 23 November to 29 December 2023 and gained 10,189 responses, of which 1,035 were in Canada, with 94 Canadian post-secondary institutions represented.

SOURCE Studiosity