How AI and Machine Learning are Transforming the Education Sector
By Pamela Grace, The Coder School
Artificial Intelligence is impacting several industries, including education. It’s transforming the way teachers and institutions work while revolutionizing the learning process for students. According to research, by 2025, AI-powered education will be worth at least $5.8 billion and significantly higher in subsequent years. In this article, we’ll explore how AI is transforming the education industry and its benefits.
What is The Impact of AI on the Education Industry?
Artificial Intelligence is revolutionizing this sector in the following ways:
- Task automation
In addition to managing classrooms, teachers also traditionally handle organizational and administrative tasks. They include filing paperwork, overseeing lecture resources, and creating periodic progress reports. AI has the potential to make their work easier by automating these additional functions.
Statistics show educators spend more than 50% of their professional time performing non-teaching activities. This technology can grade tests, plan lessons, and generally make educators’ tasks better. In addition to increasing their productivity, it also gives them enough time for one-to-one discussions with their students.
- Smart content creation
AI and machine learning tools enable the creation of accurate and targeted educational content. They also use advanced data analytics to create solutions suitable to each student’s capabilities. AI tools can make these decisions based on the learner’s interaction with other apps. This content incorporates virtual solutions such as digital textbooks, lectures, and webinars.
Robots can enhance the learning experience by building interfaces that cater to students in different grades. They make the content understandable by splitting it into intelligible portions, highlighting lessons, and summarizing crucial points. This convenience allows students to achieve their academic goals faster.
- Personalized education
According to research, personalized learning improves your skills at whatever starting level you pick. Students have different characters and approaches. The traditional one-size-fits-all approach to teaching isn’t always fair to all learners.
AI can complement teachers’ efforts by personalizing the process depending on the student’s comprehension level. In addition to making content easier to understand, technology offers recommendations based on their interests and learning difficulties.
Carnegie Learning is an example of such a platform. It acts as a teacher’s assistant that personalizes experience after evaluating your strengths and weaknesses. Apart from providing actionable feedback to learners, they generate periodic reports to help teachers understand their students better.
- Virtual learning solutions
AI is an essential aspect of cloud-based digital content platforms that enable students to access learning resources anytime and from anywhere. It’s an innovative solution if you can’t physically attend. For instance, foreign learners can still benefit from American STEM classes via digital interaction.
What’s more, it’s easy to translate AI-powered content into several different languages to optimize it for all learners. These benefits facilitate an interactive community that includes non-English speakers of various grades and ages.
- Around-the-clock assistance
In the past, you had to be in class to receive assistance from teachers. If students didn’t understand concepts, they had to look for their lecturers for one-on-one follow-ups. Today, several AI-powered chatbots specifically serve the education sector. They provide 24/7 aid to students on various subjects.
- Facial recognition
Some academic institutions are piloting AI-powered facial scans to replace traditional student IDs. This solution improves security, research, and administrative functions. For instance, these scans make it more convenient for students to order food in the canteen and take books from the library.
Most schools also use them to identify troublesome students and prevent crimes. American institutions are bound to benefit from this technology, given the rising number of school gunfire incidents. AI-powered surveillance and machine learning solutions help keep your school safe.
- Secure virtual exams
The popularity of remote learning solutions means educational institutions have to invest in secure exam portals as well. Teachers can design pre-set question banks that AI tools can use to create queries and exercises. They can also grade tests once they’re complete.
The most apparent benefit of these tests is that they’re more secure than regular exams. They have advanced configurations that you can use to assign tests to designated students. The system prevents cheating by limiting availability and allocating questions randomly. In addition to eliminating the risk of human error, they provide educators extra time to focus on their core teaching activities.
Are there Any Downsides to Utilizing AI in Education?
Although AI plays an essential role in education, it’s not entirely perfect. This technology has some cons that will hopefully disappear with improved research and investment. One of them is technology addiction. Part of the reason social media is addictive is that companies use AI and machine learning to recommend enjoyable content.
The result is users spending unhealthy amounts of time on the platforms.
There’s a possibility of adverse consequences in the education sector too. Research shows higher stress levels in children who spend too much time with tech gadgets. In such situations, their brains release cortisol, a hormone that can harm memory nerve cells.
Another disadvantage of AI is that it doesn’t always produce quality content. Since it relies on algorithms, it depends on predefined data. Such software excels at repetitive, not unique, material. Machine learning seeks to solve this problem by not only analyzing data but also improving it. Overall, human teachers are still better at producing original, complex, and innovative solutions.
The threat of AI to the job market is a global concern that’s also real in the education industry. A combination of AI and other emerging technologies such as machine learning, robotics, cloud computing, and computer vision may create functional robotic teachers. They’ll always be available, work longer hours without tiring, and become more accurate as they learn. This scenario casts a dark cloud over the job market in the education field.
Because AI tools utilize algorithms, it increases the likelihood of ransomware and other malware attacks on institutions. They also use a lot of power, which increases your utility and administrative costs. Finally, high implementation costs make AI tools unsuitable for all users. Not all students can afford the computers and other devices necessary to use such systems.
Examples of AI-Based Education Apps
Duolingo consistently ranks as one of the most popular language training apps for iOS and Android. This AI-powered platform offers over 30 languages to more than 300 million users. Others are:
- Brainly: This app helps millions of students do their homework by providing fast and accurate answers. It encourages collaboration between students, teachers, PhDs, and other stakeholders.
- MATHIaU: Teachers can create personalized, step-by-step tutorials for students. It plugs knowledge gaps in real-time and allows teachers to offer tailored solutions to struggling students.
- Thinkster Math: This app improves your math skills by first identifying your strengths and weaknesses. It uses AI to visualize your thought process and logic while tackling a problem. Students achieve better results due to immediate, customized feedback and teaching methods.
- Oddizzi: This app teaches Geography using enjoyable methods. Its AI-powered algorithm allows you to become familiar with various places across the world. You can also take customized quizzes and track your progress.
Final Thoughts
AI has a significant impact on education. It automates various crucial tasks, including administrative functions and test evaluation. It also improves physical and cyber security with its biometric solutions. While it has some disadvantages, you can pick and implement beneficial aspects to your learning institution or experience. The main objective should be to ensure it helps students, teachers, and other stakeholders in the education industry.
This article is a guest author contribution from The Coder School.
Pamela Grace is a tech and coding author from Austin, Texas. Graduating from University of Texas with a B.S. in Computer Science, Pamela is a lover of virtual reality, education tech, and futurism. When she is not writing for The Coder School, Pamela enjoys writing fiction and caring for her three dogs.
