Is Artificial Intelligence (AI) the next big frontier for education..?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education is helping both students and teachers explore the realm of education like never before

by Naveen Joshi – Founder and CEO of Allerin, Mumbai
Works in Big Data, IoT , AI and Blockchain

What is Artificial Intelligence…?

Artificial intelligence (AI, also machine intelligence, MI) is intelligence demonstrated by machines, in contrast to the natural intelligence (NI) displayed by humans and other animals.

Stanford University, in its paper, named “One-hundred-year study on Artificial Intelligence,” states: “Over the next 15 years in a typical North American city, the use of intelligent tutors and other AI technologies to assist teachers in the classroom and the home is likely to expand significantly.”

We have seen tons of day-to-day life applications of AI, such as Amazon’s product recommendations, Youtube’s recommendations, Google’s ‘Did You Mean’ section, and many more. AI after impacting various industries, like retail, healthcare, logistics, finance, is now on its way to reinventing the way we learn. Students are the future of any country, and hence the best possible education must be offered to them. Over the past few years, there have been subsequent changes in the educational process, like the usage of projectors and certain sources of information from the web. This has, undoubtedly, improved the educational services. However, there remains a need to help students and teachers in a better way. AI can offer innovations that would benefit both teachers and students to understand the whole learning and teaching process in a whole new way.

What can AI in education offer?

AI is rapidly spreading around us and it is utilizing its fantastic features to amaze various industries with groundbreaking innovations. Education is one such sector that can see big changes with AI. With its ability to create machines that can analyze and behave like humans, education can possibly shape its curriculum and training so well with AI. As every student has a different pace of understanding, it becomes challenging for teachers to identify which students need more attention and help. AI can solve this issue well. AI can help teachers find patterns in the data collected and gain insights about students, thereby assisting teachers to understand their student’s capability and to teach them accordingly. AI can, therefore, help eliminate the struggle that students go through with difficult subjects. Coursera, an online learning service, already uses AI systems, to gain insights about their students. It monitors students for errors made in their assignment and notifies teachers about a misunderstanding of concept, if any. Additionally, it provides students with hints to solve a problem they are stuck with. Another area where AI can benefit educational institutions is grading. AI can assist teachers with grading for objective questions. However, AI has not entirely replaced human work and evaluating the subjective questions still need teachers, but the future is near and unimaginable AI innovations are on their way. Furthermore, AI systems in education can monitor a student’s growth and accordingly advise them which course can help them make a better career.

What is the future of AI in the educational space?

Let’s peek into the future of education with AI. Stanford University’s Report predicts that AI will not be new for classrooms by 2030. Robot tutors will not replace human tutors but assist teachers and not replace them. Tom Hooper, the founder of an online math teaching model ‘Third space learning,’ says, “AI will not replace tutors, it will support them, and it will guide them to be better teachers.”
Artificially intelligent tutors can help human teachers understand their student’s weaknesses. Mr. Junaid Mubeen, the director of Whizz education, says, “Within 15 to 20 years, artificially intelligent tutors will be as common as car insurance, and these tutors will engage with a child’s emotions through speech interaction, support problem-solving and develop much more targeted learning paths for each student.”

AI in education will see great advances in the future as experts learn more on where it can prove to be beneficial. However, AI systems are offering educational firms with adaptive learning, grade assistance, and personalized learning. The future is going to witness a lot of innovation, so stay calm and wait for it!