1、Orlando,FLOctober 69IBM TechXchange 2025AI-Supported Dialogic Readingfor Childrens Literacy4258Tech TalkAbbie PetulantePostdoctoral Fellow,Vanderbilt UniversityIBM TechXchange2One in three children begin kindergarten behind.Dialogic reading is a superpower strategyDuring reading,a caregiver asks con
2、versation starting questionsReading comprehensionSocial and emotional skillsVocabularyCritical thinkingIBM TechXchange3Where could they look next?AI to the rescue4IBM TechXchangeAI-powered DR question delivery.Developed by Peabody College Vanderbilt Researchers with endless potential for AI discover
3、yOur workRL on GraniteSFT of Judge ModelSFT of GraniteDataset CreationIBM TechXchange5TEXT,DESCRIPTIONTEXT,DESCRIPTION?TEXT,DESCRIPTION?TEXT,DESCRIPTION+questions+labels?Results after training“Whats something that makes you feel good when youre upset?”“Have you ever been comforted by someone?”“What
4、do you think the elephant is feeling?”“Do you think the elephant is feeling better now?”“How do you think the childs actions might influence their future behavior towards animals?”“How does breathing help when youre feeling worried?”IBM TechXchange665%50%75%1PEFT worksFast,lightweight SFT phase does
5、 improve Granites DR questions2Sometimes simple winsSimpler text encoders were better judges 3Human feedback mattersMore stabilized training and better alignment4Limited data diversity limited resultsJudge model only gets 80%parity with human expertsKey takeawaysIBM TechXchange7Whats next?IBM TechXc
6、hange8CupcakeA simple model that generates 1 good questionBirthday cakeExploring deeper training,reasoning and imagesWedding cakeExpanding features,languages,learning goalsThank youAbbie PetulantePostdoctoral Fellow,Vanderbiltabigail.petula