Austin Scholar #134: Harvard says AI tutors are better than Harvard professors

& the life skills that prepared me for Stanford’s orientation week

Hey, y'all!

This week from Austin Scholar...

1. Austin’s Anecdote: The life skills that prepared me for Stanford’s orientation week

2. Harvard says AI tutors are better than Harvard professors

3. Scholar’s Sources: What I’ve been thinking about…

I’m officially a college student!! It feels as though a thousand years has passed since I last wrote to y’all and I can’t wait to tell you all about it.

Because Stanford is on a quarter system, classes are already crazy – I have midterms in three weeks!? The biggest adjustment for me is navigating lectures. Being at Alpha for the last eight years, I hadn’t sat in a classroom and listened to a teacher since the fourth grade. 

Honestly, though, I’ve found that what works best for me is to learn the material on my own before class, then go to the lecture for reinforcement and to learn the format the professor wants me to answer questions in. I’ve also really enjoyed the discussion-based classes and debating with my classmates. 

One of my biggest takeaways, though, is that the success and enjoyment level of a course often depends on the professor – an issue that apps don’t have. I’m excited to continue to report back as the weeks go on and share the differences between apps and teachers in university life.

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Austin’s Anecdote: The life skills that prepared me for Stanford’s orientation week

Stanford’s orientation week (New Student Orientation – NSO) both brought me to tears and made me feel at home, all the while helping me form solid friendships to start off this school year.

Aside from the social events (filled primarily with small talk), my favorite part of NSO was how Stanford facilitated deeper conversations between other students in your dorm. After the bigger, full-campus speeches or events, we would all come together in our dorm, break off into smaller groups, and talk about what we heard and how we felt about it. I was pleasantly surprised to see that everyone took it seriously and actually opened up about how they felt. These conversations were a nice break from all of the “what’s your name and major, where are you from, and what classes or clubs are you interested in?”

As a whole, I feel as though I had a very successful NSO and pushed my own boundaries – I socialized 24/7 (as an introvert, this was absolutely exhausting) and continued to put myself out there every day. 

Here are a few of the life skills I believe helped me do this:

1. Public speaking

All of those TED Talks, story talks, interviews, and pitches I gave throughout K-12 came into play when I not only had to muster the courage to talk to new people, but to also seem super interesting, tell great stories, and ask great questions. 

2. Time management

There are a million things to do during NSO and I had to be able to maximize my time. I utilized my time blocking skills, the Eisenhower decision matrix, and personal reminders or alarms to ensure I did all of the activities that would most benefit my life here at Stanford. 

3. Giving and receiving feedback

A lot of having a roommate is about compromise. My roommate and I are very similar in many ways, but we also have our differences – our sleep schedules are mismatched by about an hour. So I agree to turn the lights off and be super quiet as I get ready for bed, while my roommate does the same for me in the morning. I’ve also started wearing earplugs and an eye mask so I can ensure I have deep sleep right up to my alarm.

The other part of this is that if my roommate leaves the door open in the morning or doesn’t take the trash out when it’s her turn, I have to know how to give her that feedback, and if I do those things I have to receive it. So far, because of our openness and communication, we have a great relationship and I’m so lucky to have the roommate that I do :)

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Harvard says AI tutors are better than Harvard professors

Harvard University conducted a truly remarkable study showcasing the effectiveness of AI tutors – even against their own professors. 

The students who used the AI tutor in a Harvard physics class (instead of relying only on the professor’s teaching) learned more than twice as much. 

And the best part? They did it in less time and were more motivated and engaged.

Does any of this sound familiar?

Harvard’s study helps confirm what you and I have known for years: that AI tutors can help students learn more in less time.

Here are the results of the study:

The students using AI learned twice as much.

A majority of students using AI were able to spend less time on the topic than the lecture time.

Article after article now acknowledges that AI-powered online tools will be the great equalizer in education – that anyone across the world can receive a personalized, high-quality education in any topic they want to pursue.

And personalization is a huge part of the higher levels of engagement that were reported. According to lecturer Kelly Miller, “students who have a very strong background in the material may be less engaged, and they’re sometimes bored, and students who don’t have the background sometimes struggle to keep up.” The other lecturer, Gregory Kestin, stated that “there was no correlation between the amount of time spent and performance on the test of learning, indicating that personalized pacing was a key driver of success”.

AI tutors will meet your students where they’re at in a way impossible for teachers and professors of large classes (like Harvard’s physics class) to do.

Another incredible part of Harvard’s article is that it stated that “if AI can be used to effectively teach introductory material to students outside of class, this would allow “precious class time” to be spent developing “higher-order skills, such as advanced problem-solving, project-based learning, and group work.”

In other words, students can spend class time learning life skills and building a community.

This is exactly what school should be about.

Your kid doesn’t need to waste their childhood sitting in class, listening to lecture after lecture. They can learn all academic content in just two hours per day and will have the rest of the day freed up to learn valuable life skills like grit or public speaking, all the while forming life-long, supportive relationships with the people around them.

This kind of education is possible, and studies like this one will make it accessible to more and more students who need it.

What you should take from this:

If your kid is struggling in school, you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars on a tutor; you just need to learn how to prompt AI. 

Here’s a base prompt I’ve used before my math lectures:

Please teach me this lesson in [topic]. Use the following best teaching practices:

• proactively engaging the student in the learning process

• managing information overload

• supporting and promoting a growth mindset

• moving from basic to complex concepts, while preparing for future units

• giving the student timely, specific and accurate feedback and information

• while enabling the learner to set their own pace

Quiz me after each topic to ensure I'm learning it. Separate each topic. Use an engaging tone. Only begin the next topic after I've gotten a question correct.

Note: the “best teaching practices” were taken straight from the Harvard Gazette article.

Here’s what it might look like:

Hopefully, soon, Harvard will release the AI tutor that helped their students and y’all can simply use that :)

As a whole, this is a transformative study on learning through AI that could pave the way for innovation in this space, which is sorely needed.

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Scholar’s Sources: What I’ve been thinking about…

1. Mr. Beast’s 36-page memo

Mr. Beast is the world’s expert in YouTube and content creation, and he posted his 36-page memo detailing the standards for his team. Here are two of my favorite parts:

• A-players are obsessive, learn from mistakes, coachable, intelligent, don’t make excuses, believe in YouTube, see the value of this company, and are the best in the goddamn world at their job.

Your goal should be to help your kid become an A-player by the time they get to college. Encourage them to become an expert, teach them how to learn from their mistakes, and show them how to learn.

• Create content that’s impressive yet easy to understand.

Things that go “viral” or have success are things that are unique, but universally accessible. You can apply this concept to a million different things, but if your kid ever wants to start creating content, this is where they should begin. Find insightful research papers or ideas and break them down so more people can understand them.

2. On making your kids want to hang out with you

The number one thing that has strengthened my relationship with my parents as a teenager is simple: I hang out with them all the time. Whether it’s watching a show together, going to baseball games, or even going on a week, I enjoy all of the time I spend with them.

Here’s how to set the stage for this lifestyle early:

• Love them

I love this tip, but I’d like to add to love them loudly. Tell them you love them every day – whether you’re arguing or laughing, celebrating success or commiserating failure. Make sure your kid never questions if you love them or not.

• Be fun – but remember to be a parent

This is probably the hardest balance to strike – but the best thing I’d recommend is to split up the enforcer rule. Don’t let one parent be strict about everything. Split the issues you have (sleepovers, cleaning, schoolwork, etc.) down the middle so your kid always has someone to talk to and don’t feel like one of you is completely against them all of the time. You both should be the “fun” parent and the “strict” parent, just on different issues.

• Find your “thing”

I watch shows and do pilates with my mom and watch baseball games and talk about newsletter topics with my dad. We found these “things” through trial and error, but I know there’s always something I can do with either one of them. Try a bunch of different things with your kid and see what sticks.

• Don’t blow up over mistakes – they WILL happen, so stay calm and work through it

Raised voices are definitely one of the scariest things for a kid. If you get mad at them for something, send them to their room if you need to cool off then sit down together and discuss the situation.

3. Lady Tan’s Circle of Women

Lady Tan’s Circle of Women is one of the best books I’ve read this year. It’s a perfect balance between a masterful showcase of prose and an engaging plot. The descriptions of food, dress, and buildings in fourteenth-century China immerse you into the story while the conflict between dreams and expectations keeps you turning the page.

One of the most fascinating parts of the novel for me was the stark contrast in the culture in Asia versus the western world, particularly in the standards for women. The women would feel fulfilled and proud of their life if they were the “perfect wife.” On the other hand, in the United States, the women's rights movement began to gain momentum during the same period. This book is truly a fascinating read and I couldn’t recommend it enough.

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Thanks for reading. Go crush the week! See y'all on Sunday.

Cover credit to Intelligent Living