Establishing Foundations for AI-Integrated Feedback

Lead: Martyn Parker

Team: Sam Petrie, Siri Chongchitnan (co-lead)

Year: 2024-2025

Summary

This project built upon our previous WIHEA-funded initiative 'Exploring the use of AI in mathematics and statistics assessments'. Our focus was on AI-enhanced feedback: developing and testing frameworks that allow students to receive interactive, personalised, and scalable feedback in mathematical sciences.

This work leverages AI tools to realise at scale, and with low module leader burden, established pedagogic research that has proven positive impact on student learning (Hodds et al., 2014; Inglis et al., 2012; Shepherd et al., 2012; Weber, 2010; Weber and Mejía-Ramos, 2013). Furthermore, the project uses AI to generalised this work so that it can dynamically respond to individual student needs and provide dynamic and tailored feedback to each student.

We designed a prototype 'AI study buddy' tools to support the following three aims at scale:

Guided proof construction and self-questioning,
Tailored formative assessment feedback,
Individualised responses, questioning of proof and course material with personalised examples.

The project produced a framework, software and exemplars that demonstrate how AI can enhance and scale established techniques that are known to positively impact student learning to large-class settings where individualised learning and feedback is difficult.

References:

Hodds, M., Alcock, L., & Inglis, M. (2014). Self-Explanation Training Improves Proof Comprehension. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education JRME, 45(1), 62-101. Retrieved Sep 12, 2025, from https://doi.org/10.5951/jresematheduc.45.1.0062

Inglis, M., & Alcock, L. (2012). Expert and Novice Approaches to Reading Mathematical Proofs. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education JRME, 43(4), 358-390. Retrieved Sep 12, 2025, from https://doi.org/10.5951/jresematheduc.43.4.0358

Shepherd, M. D., Selden, A., & Selden, J. (2012). University Students’ Reading of Their First-Year Mathematics Textbooks. Mathematical Thinking and Learning, 14(3), 226–256. https://doi.org/10.1080/10986065.2012.682959

Weber, K. (2010). Mathematics Majors’ Perceptions of Conviction, Validity, and Proof. Mathematical Thinking and Learning, 12(4), 306–336. https://doi.org/10.1080/10986065.2010.495468

Weber, K., & Mejía-Ramos, J. P. (2013). On Mathematicians' Proof Skimming: A Reply to Inglis and Alcock. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education JRME, 44(2), 464-471. Retrieved Sep 12, 2025, from https://doi.org/10.5951/jresematheduc.44.2.0464