Morehouse College Will Become First Educational Institution To Deploy Fully Spatial AI Teaching Assistants In Classrooms

Morehouse College will become the first educational institution to deploy AI teaching assistants throughout its classrooms starting in the fall.

Morehouse College is bringing groundbreaking artificial intelligence (AI) to its classrooms starting in the fall semester.

As a leader in the technology space, the historically Black college became the first college to offer classes in the Metaverse in 2022, proving to be quite a historic feat. Now, the innovation continues with the announcement that it will reportedly become the first institution to deploy the world’s first fully spacial AI teaching assistants.

Made possible by Morehouse metaversity director and a senior professor in education, Muhsinah Morris developed the technology in the spring of 2021. However, she noted in a post shared on LinkedIn, that this would not be possible without the help of key faculty, including Ovell Hamilton, Ethell Vereen Jr., and Tanya Clark. In partnership with VictoryXR, a platform offering immersive classrooms and campuses through virtual reality, Morris and team were able to receive funding from Southern Company, Qualcomm, Meta, Unity, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and T-Mobile to bring this initiative to life.

Launching during the 2024 fall semester, Morehouse students will be able to receive help from the AI teaching assistants. The technology is not only equipped to manage assessments and office hours, but it will be available to students 24/7. Moreover, it also offers 3D demonstrations.

“These are different from chatbots because, one, they’re conversational. Two, they’re 3D, and you might just hear my AI TA speak Mandarin,” said Morris in a video shared by VictoryXR on LinkedIn. “The advantages to our AI TA’s is that it allows for personalized learning for every scholar on their own schedules. This is the first deployment of fully functional AI TAs. Morehouse College led with Metaversities, and we are going to lead the world in bringing AI to the classroom. What we’re really trying to do with these AI TAs is bring joy back to the classroom. To ignite curiosity in our students and to get them to love learning no matter what time of day it is.”

Despite setbacks, Morris says that she is “blessed with the best team” and expressed how proud she is of her team for bringing this innovative technology to the forefront through one of Atlanta’s most-esteemed HBCUs.