Gov. Chris Sununu and the Executive Council have approved a new contract between the state Department of Education (NHED) and the nonprofit Khan Academy to offer Khanmigo, which serves as a teaching assistant for educators and a tutor for students.
New Hampshire is the first state to enter into a statewide contract with Khan Academy for its Khanmigo AI pilot.
While Khan Academy offers a "freemium" version of its basic Khanmigo for teachers, the pilot offered in New Hampshire includes a District Partnership Program that provides free services for teachers and students, turning AI from a content generator only to a tool to enhance teacher-student interactions and student learning.
Additional features include a writing coach with immediate feedback, the ability for teachers to customize assignments for students or groupings of students based on their specific learning needs, on-demand student support and multilingual tutoring.
The pilot also offers enhanced services for teachers including custom professional learning, goal setting, school-level reporting, and access to Chat-GPT 4 and student mode.
The upgrades allow educators to use Khanmigo to build additional resources and classroom experiences based on the content in Khan Academy, and summarize student chats to find trends and develop customized learning activities based on student needs.
Within Khanmigo's student mode, students are encouraged to think critically and solve problems, without providing them with direct answers.
SAU 20 in Gorham recently piloted the Khanmigo program with a language arts teacher and a math teacher.
"I see a lot of potential with Khanmigo, so it made sense for us to jump on this opportunity," Superintendent David Backler of SAU 20 said in a statement. "What we like is that Khanmigo doesn't do the work for you, but it gives you good feedback on the work that you are already doing. We have rolled this out in a way that teachers can feel supported. This isn't a shortcut, but rather a tool to provide educators and students with more support."
Khanmigo's teacher mode allows educators to simplify their workflow, identify student struggles, and synthesize data. It also detects chat interactions that may be "inappropriate, harmful or unsafe," state officials said in a release.
"When the moderation system is triggered, Khanmigo automatically sends an email alert to the teacher," the news release said.
The $2.3 million contract for Khanmigo is funded with federal COVID-relief money and will be available for all teachers and students in grades 5-12 through July 31, 2025.
New Hampshire schools looking to take advantage of Khanmigo should contact the districts team at Khan Academy by emailing districts@khanacademy.org to create a no-cost agreement to begin services and training.
©2024 The New Hampshire Union Leader (Manchester, N.H.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.