Abstract:Recent advances in Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) have transformed educational content creation, particularly in developing tutor training materials. However, biases embedded in AI-generated content--such as gender, racial, or national stereotypes--raise significant ethical and educational concerns. Despite the growing use of GenAI, systematic methods for detecting and evaluating such biases in educational materials remain limited. This study proposes an automated bias assessment approach that integrates the Contextualized Embedding Association Test with a prompt-engineered word extraction method within a Retrieval-Augmented Generation framework. We applied this method to AI-generated texts used in tutor training lessons. Results show a high alignment between the automated and manually curated word sets, with a Pearson correlation coefficient of r = 0.993, indicating reliable and consistent bias assessment. Our method reduces human subjectivity and enhances fairness, scalability, and reproducibility in auditing GenAI-produced educational content.
Abstract:Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have significantly enhanced educational accessibility by offering a wide variety of courses and breaking down traditional barriers related to geography, finance, and time. However, students often face difficulties navigating the vast selection of courses, especially when exploring new fields of study. Driven by this challenge, researchers have been exploring course recommender systems to offer tailored guidance that aligns with individual learning preferences and career aspirations. These systems face particular challenges in effectively addressing the ``cold start'' problem for new users. Recent advancements in recommender systems suggest integrating large language models (LLMs) into the recommendation process to enhance personalized recommendations and address the ``cold start'' problem. Motivated by these advancements, our study introduces RAMO (Retrieval-Augmented Generation for MOOCs), a system specifically designed to overcome the ``cold start'' challenges of traditional course recommender systems. The RAMO system leverages the capabilities of LLMs, along with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)-facilitated contextual understanding, to provide course recommendations through a conversational interface, aiming to enhance the e-learning experience.