Thomas (Tom) Elton

AI & NLP Researcher in Education | PhD Candidate, University of Sydney

My research explores how AI (in particular, natural language processing) can augment education by researching and building tools that help teachers quickly scale best pedagogical practices to large cohorts.


Research Interests

Scaling Active Learning Techniques using AI Pedagogy (Feedback Focus) Natural Language Processing AI Literacy Education Technology

Current Projects

Muddy Card AI Clustering System
Building NLP systems that cluster and summarise student “muddy card” responses, so teachers can quickly identify common points of confusion across large cohorts.
With Dr Jonathan Kummerfeld, Dr Elliot Varoy (USyd) & Dr Elena Glassman (Harvard)
NLP Feedback Focus Active Learning
Student Muddy Card Clustering Dataset
Curating a novel fine-grained clustering dataset from real student muddy card responses. Developing a visualisation to streamline the annotation adjudication process.
Supervised by Dr Jonathan Kummerfeld & Dr Elliot Varoy (USyd)
NLP Dataset
AI Feedback Audit & Tool
Leading a team developing a coding guide based on Hattie & Timperley’s feedback levels, alongside an AI tool to help teachers improve their feedback practices. $9,000 AUD in secured funding.
Project lead of USyd Based Team: Dr. Jonathan Kummerfeld, Dr. Elliot Varoy, Dr. Hamish Fernando, Dr. Mohammed Polash, Mr. Jose Meza, and Mr. Sasha Cohen
AI Pedagogy Feedback Focus
AI Use Audit at USyd
Faculty-wide survey across the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Engineering, auditing which AI tools students are using and how.
Collaboration with Dr Mohammed Polash, Dr Mary Lou Maher & team
AI Literacy Education Research
Lecture Attendance in Mathematics & Statistics
First-author study using focus groups and surveys to understand why first-year students are skipping lectures, and what they’re turning to instead.
Research Assistant and Collaborator under Dr Rosie Cameron, Dr. Andy Tran, Dr. Jaslene Huan Lin & Dr. John Mitry
Education Research
AI Genereated Feedback From Audio
Collaborating with Dr. Hamish Fernando on a project he is leading to understand student’s perceptions on AI Feedback generated from a video recording of an instructor.
Project Team: Dr. Hamish Fernando, Mr. Thomas Elton, Dr. Peter Lok, Dr. Young No, & Dr. Sasha Nikolic
Education Research

Recent Posts

Index Laws (Part II)

Index Laws (Part II)

A LONG time ago, I wrote the post titled “Index Laws (Part I)”, where I developed a conceptual basis for the index law for multiplication, namely: Why write on this topic? I wrote a description in the linked post above describing my motivation in-depth, however,…


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