AI Application in Education
The greatest challenge faced in the education sector is the discrepancy that exists between an individual’s learning rate and how much is understood by this individual. Everyone, in this case students, has different levels of learning ability and aptitude. For some students, they do better at “left brain” thinking; having analytical skills while others are more skilled at “right brain” thinking; having creative, literary and communicative abilities.
The differences that exist between students go on and on. From some students experiencing some sort of physical challenge to others suffering from mental disabilities or having skills that differ from one region of the world to the other, facing challenges in learning new concepts or something as simple as the alphabets. The list is endless.
It is therefore without argument, important to recognize and celebrate the individuality of these students. Recognizing and considering the individuality of each student gives them a chance to learn at their own pace.
Well, having established that recognizing individual difference is very important, how do we channel our knowledge of how student A is different from student B into providing educational tools that would suit the educational demand of both students?
We can do this by utilizing Artificial Intelligence!
Artificial Intelligence (AI) also referred to as machine intelligence is the intelligence demonstrated by machines. It is also described as the study of intelligent agents (any machine or device that perceives its environment and takes actions that aim at successfully achieving its goal).
Artificial intelligence is fast becoming a part of our normal life and its impact is also beginning to be felt in the educational sector. The effect of AI in the educational sector has caused a change as the traditional methods formerly used in learning are now replaced with more advanced methods. There has been an increase of more convenient and personalized ways of learning since the introduction of AI in education.
Teacher and Artificial Intelligence (AI) collaboration
Artificial Intelligence (AI) helps to fill need gaps in learning and teaching. Teachers do not have to do so much anymore. AI is also used to achieve efficiency and personalization. The best attributes of both teachers and machine are taken into consideration and paired together in order to produce the best outcome for the students. AI is used to perform non-teaching tasks in order to give the teachers time to concentrate on their students. These non-teaching tasks can be filing paperwork, grading students and personnel related issues. Teachers should be exposed to using this technology because Artificial intelligence is the future.
Differentiated and individual learning
It is easier for teachers to be able to satisfy the individual needs of their students when it’s a class with say; 5 students. What happens when the teacher has a larger class? Adjusting learning based on the individual needs of students has always been very important for educators. AI is able to achieve a level of differentiation among individual students in a class above 30 that might be impossible for teachers to achieve given such number of students. There are technologies developed by companies with an instruction intelligent design that use AI to provide learning for students, test these students and give feedback to students. This technology gives students challenges they are ready for, identifies a problem in grasping new concepts and knows when to switch to new topics. A customized curriculum for every student is also made available using AI.
Access for all students
Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be used to make available, classrooms for students from all parts of the world. It doesn’t matter the languages these students speak or if they are physically impaired. The availability of a presentation translator feature makes it possible to translate what the teacher might be saying into languages the students individually understand. There is also provision for students who might not be able to attend school because of health related problems or students that may require tutoring in a different subject that is not readily available in their own school.
Automation of admin task
After exams have been conducted, teachers are often left with the burden of grading so many scripts and this can be really tiring. AI can be used to lift this burden off the hands of teachers and achieve the desired result more quickly. At the same time, while AI is grading, it can also give advice on how to close the gap in learning based on the performance of the students. Lifting off that task from teachers by AI gives the teacher’s time to spend with the students, their families and to do personal stuff. This keeps the teachers motivated and increases their productivity.
Tutoring and support outside the classroom
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential of been able to support students with their assignments. So, parents do not have to worry about how their children would get their assignments done when they have to suddenly leave town on a business trip. Tutoring and study programs are also available on AI.
Use of voice assistants
The use of voice assistants like; Alexa, Google home and Siri has been adopted in classrooms. These voice assistants give the students the chance to interact with educational materials without the need of a teacher. These devices are not only used in classrooms, they can be used at home or other non-educational environments to provide answers to or assist students.
In the near future Artificial Intelligence (AI) would be a huge part of the educational experience. These intelligent machines could also be modified with the ability to read students’ facial expressions. This will enable the machines know when a topic is completely understood or when the students are still struggling to understand. Thus, in situations where topics are not understood, the lessons could be modified in response to their need to understand better. With its numerous benefits and applications in education, the overall learning outcome for everyone would drastically increase.
AI is indeed the future of learning.