HCII PhD Thesis Defense: "Value-Adaptive Instruction: Improving the Productivity of Civil Discourse and Addressing Bias

Kenneth Koedinger, Co-Chair (HCII, CMU)

John Stamper, Co-Chair (HCII, CMU)

Jessica Hammer, (HCII & ETC, CMU)

Sharon Carver, (Psychology, CMU)

Matthew Easterday, (School of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern)

 

 

Civil discourse is our most basic form of civic engagement. In a democracy, it is our best tool for collectively answering a society's most fundamental question: "What shall we do?" While most us have no doubt participated in political discussions, engaging in civil discourse that is productive (i.e., dialogue that fosters democratic goals) can be substantially more difficult. For example, when both sides of an argument view their beliefs as part of their identity, debating the merits of those beliefs without calling into question the merits of the individuals who hold them can be challenging. Ideally, a careful discussant might find common ground, previously obscured by the trappings of tribalism, or, at the very least, foster a mutual understanding of and respect for the values that inform beliefs they do not share. On the other hand, an unskilled discussant, perhaps one only interested in personal attacks or "winning arguments," will likely only further entrench each party in the views of their political tribe.

Engaging in productive civil discourse is a skill that needs to be explicitly taught, modeled, and practiced in the same way that students are taught and given opportunities to practice skills like finding the length of the hypotenuse or completing a Punnett square. Unfortunately, civic education often takes a backseat to so-called core subjects like math, science, and English. We developed and tested the impact of a novel civic education intervention designed to provide students with 1) a better understanding of the values that shape their own beliefs and the beliefs of others, 2) opportunities to practice overcoming the biases that are born out our pre-existing beliefs, 3) an understanding of what makes civil discourse productive and examples of model civil discourse, and 4) opportunities to practice the skills that underpin productive civil discourse. We found that student performance on key civil discourse skills (e.g., value-identification, tribalism reduction) improved with practice. We also demonstrate, for the first time, that an AI-powered educational game that adapts instruction to a student’s specific values can be used to measure and, in some cases, reduce the impact of bias when reasoning about political beliefs. In addition to direct applications in civic technology, this new, value-adaptive instruction has implications for systems designed to mitigate bias or augment human reasoning.

 

 

Topic: Nicholas Diana - Thesis Defense
Time: Jun 16, 2020 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://cmu.zoom.us/j/94613150828

Meeting ID: 946 1315 0828
One tap mobile
+12678310333,,94613150828# US (Philadelphia)
+16465189805,,94613150828# US (New York)

Dial by your location
        +1 267 831 0333 US (Philadelphia)
        +1 646 518 9805 US (New York)
        +1 651 372 8299 US (St. Paul)
        +1 786 635 1003 US (Miami)
        +1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
        +1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
        +1 470 250 9358 US (Atlanta)
        +1 470 381 2552 US (Atlanta)
        +1 720 928 9299 US (Denver)
        +1 971 247 1195 US (Portland)
        +1 206 337 9723 US (Seattle)
        +1 213 338 8477 US (Los Angeles)
        +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
        +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
        +1 602 753 0140 US (Phoenix)
        +1 669 219 2599 US (San Jose)
        +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
Meeting ID: 946 1315 0828
Find your local number: https://cmu.zoom.us/u/acZsAC6Urs

Join by SIP
94613150828@zoomcrc.com

Join by H.323
162.255.37.11 (US West)
162.255.36.11 (US East)
221.122.88.195 (China)
115.114.131.7 (India Mumbai)
115.114.115.7 (India Hyderabad)
213.19.144.110 (EMEA)
103.122.166.55 (Australia)
209.9.211.110 (Hong Kong SAR)
64.211.144.160 (Brazil)
69.174.57.160 (Canada)
207.226.132.110 (Japan)
Meeting ID: 946 1315 0828