[2603.26679] AI Meets Mathematics Education: A Case Study on Supporting an Instructor in a Large Mathematics Class with Context-Aware AI

Computer Science > Computers and Society arXiv:2603.26679 (cs) [Submitted on 9 Mar 2026] Title:AI Meets Mathematics Education: A Case Study on Supporting an Instructor in a Large Mathematics Class with Context-Aware AI Authors:Jérémy Barghorn, Anna Sotnikova, Sacha Friedli, Antoine Bosselut View a PDF of the paper titled AI Meets Mathematics Education: A Case Study on Supporting an Instructor in a Large Mathematics Class with Context-Aware AI, by J\'er\'emy Barghorn and 3 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract:Large-enrollment university courses face persistent challenges in providing timely and scalable instructional support. While generative AI holds promise, its effective use depends on reliability and pedagogical alignment. We present a human-centered case study of AI-assisted support in a Calculus I course, implemented in close collaboration with the course instructor. We developed a system to answer students' questions on a discussion forum, fine-tuning a lightweight language model on 2,588 historical student-instructor interactions. The model achieved 75.3% accuracy on a benchmark of 150 representative questions annotated by five instructors, and in 36% of cases, its responses were rated equal to or better than instructor answers. Post-deployment student survey (N = 105) indicated that students valued the alignment of the responses with the course materials and their immediate availability, while still relying on the instructor verification for trust. W...