THE POWER OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Education through machines is a reality. From industry to business and to education now, it is time to lose our reservations and embrace artificial intelligence

FUN AND ENGAGING CLASSROOMS

Teachers can see the limitations that technology can’t or doesn’t observe. However, there is no scalable way for students to closely engage with teachers as class sizes grow. This leads to gaps of knowledge between the lessons teachers submit to their administrators and the principles students are able to absorb. With better use of artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality and other technologies, participation can become scalable to allow engagement between teachers and classes of all sizes. This allows teachers more time to focus on making lessons as fun and engaging as they are educational for students.

INDIVIDUALISED, SMARTER LEARNING

Personalised learning is invaluable, particularly for children with learning disabilities, such as attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder, autism or dyslexia. And while it is not humanly possible for a teacher to cater to every child’s needs in a class of, say, 30 or more students, AI can. It can help students experiment to find the best way for them to learn new skills. AI can help schools, colleges and universities design curricula as well as testing and providing feedback to students at every educational level.

CLASSROOMS WITHOUT WALLS

AI-enabled tools make classrooms available to all, irrespective of language, location or physical impairment. This helps provide quality education to students who might not otherwise be able to access it. How? Think about a sick student who has been hospitalised. Without AI, the child would have to skip school while they recovered. With AI-enabled tools, they could instead attend virtual classes online, and not fall behind in their studies.

HELPING THE TEACHER

Every week, teachers spend hours performing non-educational administrative duties, including an extensive amount of bureaucratic paperwork. Sometimes, this even becomes a daily burden.

With the help of AI, these tasks could be completed faster, allowing teachers to invest their time in students, or on improving their lesson plans or student engagement.

AUTOMATED GRADING SYSTEMS

Grading objectively can be a difficult task—even the best teachers are occasionally subjective in their assessments. AI-based computer programmes can replicate a teacher’s marking protocols to evaluate and assign grades to students’ tests. This standardises assessing every child’s knowledge and keeps the teacher available to do other, more pressing, work. Of “AI-enabled tools make classrooms available to all and help provide quality education to students who might not otherwise be able to access it” course, like when designing any other AI, the algorithms employed should be reviewed regularly to ensure they are error-free.

VIRTUAL COUNSELLORS

Although it’s happening slowly, some universities have begun introducing ‘virtual teachers’ to help students who need extra assistance. These teachers are available anytime, anywhere, and though they might not be as useful as their human counterparts, they are a valuable resource for students.

LIFE ON CAMPUS WITH CHATBOTS

Chatbots are increasingly being used across the web to quickly answer customers’ questions. Imagine something similar in an educational setting—for instance, the AI-powered chatbot, Chat Campus, which is available round-the-clock to students, and can answer a multitude of common questions, including helping students figure out their class schedules or when their assignments are due.

ADAPTIVE LEARNING

With the help of AI, schools could be enabled to track the progress of each student. The result: finding a course that best suits the individual needs of a student, with real-time updates to the teacher about the unique challenges each student faces.

STREAMLINE TASKS

With a growing number of schools across the globe, there’s an increasing interest in school management platforms for educational administrators. AI helps create such platforms, which can assist institutions with non-educational tasks such as recruitment, data processing and accounting.

SAFE AND SOUND ENVIRONS

For every educational institution, keeping students safe from violence or bullying is a priority. AI can help institutes in spotting patterns in a student’s behaviour or gauge the risk of school violence. Students consistently violent towards others can be handled with more humanity, but can also be better tracked to ensure their patterns of violence are stopped.