A Pittsburgh-based educational tech company has opened its Canadian headquarters in downtown St. John’s.
Barry Malkin, CEO of Carnegie Learning, cut the ribbon outside the company’s new office in Atlantic Place this week.
“We’ve been working on this for over a year and a half, and we are delighted to finally announce the grand opening,” Malkin said.
Carnegie Learning makes educational games and programming for grades K-12 using AI-driven software. The primary focus of its new St. John’s office is to develop the company’s new K-6 mathematics game, MATHia Adventure.
Malkin said it was the work of Clockwork Fox Studios — a St. John’s tech startup — that attracted Carnegie to Newfoundland and Labrador in the first place. When both sides were first introduced six years ago, Clockwork Fox Studios had been developing the game Zorbit’s Math Adventure.
“We really fell in love with the technology, with the work of the product that they created and thought it was best in class,” Malkin said.
Carnegie Learning bought out Clockwork Fox Studios in 2021.
With 25 years of experience in the industry, Carnegie’s AI-driven programs have already been integrated into provincial school systems throughout the country for some time. But alongside artificial intelligence’s rapid rise in popularity comes fear of its takeover.
Kasey Bratcher, the company’s chief services officer, Kasey Bratcher wants teachers to embrace how the software can support them in the classroom rather than see it as a force to battle against.
Steve Ritter, chief scientist and founder of Carnegie Learning, said teachers use AI to understand what students are struggling with and to create math problems and exercises that address their learning needs.
“We’re using AI to duplicate the students’ thinking process, not to take it over from them,” Ritter said.
As for the main project that will be worked on out of St. John’s, Malkin said MATHia Adventure will use AI to subtly provide hints and suggestions to improve student performance and engagement without giving away the answers.
“The products are not developed technology first, they’re developed through educational research first,” Malkin said.
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