One of the most common debates in recent times is about the amount of screen time that is appropriate for young children, especially during the present times. Even as this debate rages on, there is another rising technology that is altering education tools and the future of the entire sector – Artificial Intelligence.
As per the report of the Artificial Intelligence Market, the use of AI in the U.S. Education Sector is expected to grow by 47.5% from 2017 to 2021. Though it is true that the physical presence of a teacher cannot be replaced, the job of the teacher is expected to undergo many changes to get the best educational practices.
Table of Contents
Teacher and AI Collaboration
AI is already being used in certain sectors of education such as in testing systems and in tools that help develop skills. As AI continues to develop, the hope is that it would help fill the gaps in teaching and learning and helps teachers and schools achieve much more than before.
AI can help improve efficiency, personalization, as well as help, streamline the admin tasks. This would, in turn, help the teachers to get more freedom and time to provide adaptability and understanding to the students.
The ultimate vision for Artificial Intelligence in education is to provide a place where machines and teachers can work together to provide the best possible outcome for students by leveraging the best attributes of humans and machines.
Not only this, since today’s students will have to work in the future where AI is a reality, it is extremely important that schools expose them to this new technology to prepare them for the future.
Benefits of AI in Education
For students:
Education at Your Fingertips
A number of students these days spend most of their time up and about. So they prefer to complete their day-to-day tasks using their laptops, tablets, and smartphones.
AI-based applications allow them to study at any time of their choice, and at anyplace, while also helping them receive feedback from instructors and educators in real-time.
Personalized Learning
AI tools can adapt themselves to suit the students’ knowledge level, individual preference, and requirements as well as topics of interest.
AI allows differentiation that is not humanly possible for teachers who manage numerous students at once in a traditional classroom setting.
Moreover, AI can also help students identify gaps in their knowledge and redirect them to new topics when required. With the use of AI, students can learn what they need to grow faster, instead of following a set curriculum.
Universal Accessibility for all Students
AI tools can provide classroom accessibility to all kinds of students – those who speak diverse languages or even those with hearing and visual impairments.
The Presentational Translator from PowerPoint is one such tool that creates subtitles for the teacher’s lesson in real-time.
This can be of great help for students who are unable to attend school due to illness or for someone looking to study a subject that is not available in their school. Thus, AI can be a great help in breaking barriers and making education accessible to all students.
Virtual Support &Tutoring
Study programs and tutoring are becoming increasingly advanced due to the use of artificial intelligence.
AI-based platforms allow mentors to track the real-time progress of the students and provide instant feedback.
For Schools & Teachers
Automatic Curriculum Building
With the use of AI technologies, teachers would not need to build a course curriculum from scratch or search for the educational material required for the course manually.
The students would, instead, be able to choose an online curriculum that would adapt to their weaknesses and needs. This would help reduce the teacher’s workload to a great extent.
Recognize the Student Weaknesses
AI-integrated courses can notify teachers when a student chooses multiple incorrect answers in a particular test or quick.
This would help the teachers to identify a student’s weakness in a specific topic or area so they can pay attention to them.
How can AI be used in Education?
While the multifold benefits of AI in the field of education are quite clear, understanding the best ways to apply it to educational platforms is necessary.
Here are some ways in which AI can be used to make the work easier and more efficient for both teachers as well as students.
Speech Recognition Software
Artificial Intelligence can be used for the development of speech recognition software with manifold functionalities for the faculty and students.
It can help in transcribing and be extremely useful for students with limited mobility or those who struggle with writing.
This software can also enhance the word recognition and spelling capabilities of the students. Teachers, on the other hand, can use it to dictate lectures and make the task of email and document recognition much simpler.
Adaptive Learning Technology
With the help of AI, developers can create adaptive learning technology that would help in identifying the gap in students’ knowledge, help bring them back on track and provide related coursework.
It can also help customize assignments and exam papers according to the need of the students.
As AI becomes smarter, it might even be possible to read the student’s facial expressions and recognize whether they are happy with the lesson.
If required, the lesson can be altered to suit their needs as well.
Smart Content
AI can help in the development of numerous advanced digital learning materials such as digitized textbooks. This would help in customizable learning to make studying easier and more fun.
For instance, AI can break down content into smart study guides comprising chapter summaries, flashcards, and practice tests.
In the same way, AI can help provide personalized learning cloud systems that would help teachers design their curriculum using apps, virtual courses, simulations, video conferences, self-assessment, and other such tools to make learning more interactive.
Ease of Conducting Exams
The traditional method of conducting exams required immense planning from setting question papers to printing them, distributing them to exam centers, and then evaluating them one at a time.
With the use of AI-powered assessment tools, this tedious task can become much more streamlined and easier. AI-based systems can set question papers from a pre-existing question bank, the exam can be conducted online and the evaluation is done easily as well. This would lighten the administrative burden on the teachers to a great extent.
Study Gamification
Students would undoubtedly learn better through game-based activities like developing a reward system and providing students points and badges for completing assignments and tests.
Students can also be made to compete and interact with their peers through a tournament platform. Providing kids with an incentive to learn will surely encourage them to be active learners and retain the knowledge they receive. This way the exhausting chore of learning can be transformed into a work of joy and curiosity.
Future of Artificial Intelligence
AI is already bringing about manifold changes in the education second. In the future, it is predicted that students and teachers would have access to personalized assistants throughout their school life, which would help streamline their respective tasks to a great extent.
AI would also connect classrooms across the globe and help develop links between students worldwide. It would expose students to varied cultures, opinions, and views and build a holistic learning environment.
