Challenge
Gustav Potgieter, an engineering lecturer at North-West University, faced a significant challenge in his engineering analysis course. With a large class comprising both at-risk students and those performing well, providing individualized attention became increasingly difficult. Traditional teaching methods weren't sufficient to identify struggling students early enough, and many students lacked the confidence to ask questions until after failing an exam. Multiple-choice assessments made it particularly challenging to understand how students misunderstood concepts, limiting Gustav's ability to provide targeted support.
How Gustav Worked with Mindjoy to Implement AI with an Action-Research Approach
Gustav's implementation of Mindjoy followed a structured, data-driven approach that started with establishing clear baselines. Students first completed an engineering analysis exam without AI assistance, followed by the same exam with Mindjoy support. This direct comparison demonstrated immediate impact while highlighting areas where students needed the most support.
The implementation then scaled through a systematic monitoring and adaptation process. Gustav reviewed the Common Misconceptions metric every Friday to adjust his upcoming lessons, creating a continuous feedback loop between AI insights and classroom teaching. This real-time analytics integration proved transformative - student interactions increased from 70-80 to 1,800 questions per week, while usage patterns showed students who engaged with Mindjoy for more than 20 minutes weekly demonstrated the strongest academic improvements.
Throughout the semester, Gustav maintained this systematic approach of weekly engagement reviews and bi-weekly outcome assessments, allowing him to continuously refine how AI supported his teaching.
Impact
The results of this structured implementation were transformative. Student interactions with course material increased dramatically from 70-80 to 1,800 questions per week, showing unprecedented levels of engagement. Students who consistently spent more than 20 minutes weekly with Mindjoy saw significant academic improvements. Most importantly, the intervention group not only improved their own baseline scores by 39% but also outperformed both the control group and the secondary control group who were not initially at risk of failing.
Mindjoy supports a pedagogically rigorous approach tailored to each organisation and implements systematically to ensure AI is introduced effectively to educators and students, complementing and enhancing teaching methods rather than replacing them.
