Top UK Academics, Leaders & Ambassadors to Discuss the Future of Education Alongside Launch of Teachers’ AI Tool Hub, KEATH

In a landmark event inside of London’s House of Lords, the University of Surrey, in partnership with their spinout AI EdTech company KEATH.ai, is bringing together leading educational and AI voices from all across the UK for the AI Advancement Forum. On December 15th experts are finally going head-to-head on the threats AI poses and perhaps more importantly its mitigations. The breadth of expertise, attending and speaking, has the potential to set the groundwork for the future outline of education.

The event will feature discussions on the challenges and opportunities of AI present in the education space. Attendees include lords, chancellors, ambassadors, directors, and C-suite executives from many universities and venture capital companies. Some of the experts speaking at the event are:

• Prof. Max Lu, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Surrey
• The Lord Taylor of Warwick
• Prof. Katie Normington, Vice-Chancellor of De Montfort University
• Prof. Manolis Mavrikis, Artificial Intelligence Professor at University College London (UCL)
• Kevin Ebenezer, Head of Global Recognition, Cambridge University Press and Assessment 
• Dr. Lisa Nelson, Director of Learning, Kaplan 

This event is being hosted by the University of Surrey and its spinout KEATH.ai, where at one point it will have the opportunity to launch and showcase its EdTech solutions live to a discerning expert audience. KEATH CEO, Joey Lin declined a full PhD scholarship to Cambridge University to pursue his startup several years ago. His company Illume Research made the Forbes 30 under 30 list and established itself as one of the world leaders in the Pearson EPQ (Extended Project Qualification) assessors. He advocates with confidence in KEATH’s ability to revolutionise the assessment space. 

For context, KEATH acts as an expert marker for students’ written assessment. In 2022 it was examined against 2500 Pearson EPQs and elicited a 100% grading accuracy. After 5 years of research, KEATH’s founders insist their patent-pending technology is proprietary and is not contingent on any pre-existing AGI – like OpenAI’s GPTs. The KEATH modal justifies its grading to the student, providing actionable feedback to students. On December 15th industry leaders may discern whether this is truly the case. Interested universities and educational institutions worldwide can now start trialing and using KEATH.ai, by contacting them directly at the details below.

Separate from AI, it is difficult to deny the need for a solution to overworked educators. 

In the United States, a survey by Edweek* revealed teachers work a median of 54 hours per week, with just 46 percent of their time in the school building spent teaching. On average, teachers work 53 hours per week, with 7.5 hours. Some teachers spend more than 5 hours per week grading assessments in a white paper by the National Survey of Educators in District, Charter, and Private Schools*. Additionally, many teachers take home two to three hours of work a day, with grading being one of the most time-consuming tasks, according to an article by Business Insider*.

The article “Why Teachers are Going Gradeless’,  argues that far too much time is spent marking and justifying grades with reams of feedback, leaving them with less time for preparing and teaching lessons.

Similarly in the United Kingdom; according to a 2019 survey by TES*, teachers spend an average of six hours assessing pupils per day, which amounts to about 44 days a year with other sources asserting that 11 hours per week, while QA Education* claims that an equivalent to a whole working day is spent solely on marking and assessments. 

Following the unionisation and consistent educator strikes this year, it’s argued AI should not be overlooked as a means of relieving the tension within the industry. As we stand at the cusp of a new era in educational methodology, the University of Surrey and KEATH.ai are at the forefront of integrating AI solutions to address critical challenges faced by educators worldwide. Early adopters like the University of Southampton and Sunway University, Malaysia are already implementing these solutions. 

The convergence of distinguished experts at this event underscores the critical importance and timely necessity of this dialogue, highlighting the collective recognition of the urgent need to address and navigate the evolving landscape of AI in education. With the world’s leading educational and AI experts converging to discuss, debate, and discern the path forward, this event marks a pivotal moment in harnessing AI’s potential for the greater good of the educational community.

Data References

Hardison, H. (2022). How Teachers Spend Their Time: A Breakdown. Education Week. [online] 19 Apr. Available at: https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/how-teachers-spend-their-time-a-breakdown/2022/04

Mcshane, M. (2022). How do Teachers Spend Their Time? [online] Available at: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED621761.pdf.

Weir, M. (n.d.). 7 things you might not realize teachers have to do after the school day ends. [online] Business Insider. Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/teachers-time-spent-after-school-work-2019-10?r=US&IR=T.

www.tes.com. (n.d.). Teachers spend ‘44 days a year’ assessing pupils | Tes Magazine. [online] Available at: https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/teachers-spend-44-days-year-assessing-pupils

euromedia (2016). UK teachers spend a whole day on marking each week. [online] qaeducation. Available at: https://qaeducation.co.uk/feature/uk-teachers-spend-whole-day-marking-each-week/