AI will change the way people teach and learn, said Bill Gates in his blog called The Age of AI has begun. With the recent trend in ChatGPT, it is not hard to see why this is the case. News about AI has dominated the tech space, and companies like Google are even developing their AI system.
Educators already use tools like the Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) to improve student engagement. ITSs are software designed to provide customized instructions and feedback to learners. Most ITS in the industry today follow a rule-based approach, which shows mixed results in improving learning.
ITS can be much more effective when it uses a combination of rule-based and machine-learning approaches in its design. As AI gets better and more powerful with new developments, ITS can be built in a way that improves student engagement. Here is how AI can be used to improve learning.
Personalized Learning
AI models can be used to generate learning content that keeps students engaged. According to a study, people learn better when they are interested in the topic. AI can be used to learn what a student likes, and then generate content based on their interests. This gives them a personalized learning experience.
AI can also be used to understand the learning style of a student. Some people learn better by doing real-world projects, while others learn better when they are taught directly by a teacher. Given the different ways of learning, it is important to teach students in their preferred way to keep them engaged.
Learning can be curated to students' interests, learning styles, and individual abilities with AI. This will result in higher motivation among students learning the subject. The AI system can also provide suggestions to educators on how to customize their teaching.
Grading Assistant
Many educational institutions are already using AI to grade essays. Companies like Education Testing Service (ETS) and Pearson are some examples. The reason why these institutions are using AI to grade is that doing so is more affordable. This way of grading is popular in online education providers, where there can be an unlimited number of students enrolling.
Traditional schools in the US are already using some form of AI to grade homework submitted by students. According to teachers, grading courses can be tedious and time-consuming. With the help of AI, educators can save time on grading, and focus on other work instead.
While the need for human connection in teaching and learning can't be replaced, AI can make teaching tasks more efficient. According to research by OpenAI, many professions are exposed to AI technology. This includes teaching jobs that deal with writing and reading, such as history or English.
Classroom Management
According to research, a classroom with sub-optimal lighting or temperature can negatively impact learning activity. For example, it will be harder for students to concentrate if the lighting is dim. Because of this, it is imperative for teachers to ensure the classroom has the best learning condition. AI technology can automatically adjust the amount of lighting and temperature using sensors, ultimately optimizing the room for learning.
Another application of AI is facial recognition. Facial recognition system can detect facial emotions from a person's face. There are many open-source software that can be used to build such systems. It can be applied in a classroom setting to detect students' engagement. If the material taught is confusing to some students, the recognition system will pick this up by gathering the facial expression of the students, and then alert the teacher.
Teacher Support
AI technology can be used to support new teachers. When new teachers join the school, they would need time to adapt to the teaching style of the school, the learning style of each individual classroom and the overall culture of the school. A custom AI trained with the school's data can be used to speed up this onboarding process by showing the best practices.
AI can be used to support existing teachers by automating processes. One of the responsibilities of a typical teacher is to develop the lessons for students. This task can be time-consuming. With AI, high-quality lesson plans can be made quickly, freeing up teachers to do other tasks.
The Future of AI in Education
In the future, it is very likely that Artificial Intelligence will be used for teaching and learning, in the same way, that the internet is being used today. Experts aren't sure how exactly AI technology will be used in education, but they believe that it will play a huge role in the education industry.
Many EdTech companies are still figuring out ways to use AI in their system. Socratic, a learning app from Google, uses an image recognition system that analyzes homework pictures uploaded by students and gives them useful hints on how to solve the problems.
While AI technology is great for many things related to education, there are concerns about AI misuse. Some students are already using AI to do their homework for them, instead of doing it themselves. This has led to some schools banning the use of AI. As an effort to counter this, some developers are already working on tools to detect content made by AI.
