A world, where technology collaborates with teachers to create systems making higher education faster, better and efficient …making education accessible with personalized curriculum, identify gaps, and create smart content.
Teachers becomes coaches or facilitators while technology bears the burden of assessment…………………
Educators have forever struggled for a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching, manage disengagement and drop-out rates. The impersonal traditional classrooms focus on mass delivery falling short of responding to individual learning needs and pace. Here is where the disruptive technology or big data analytics and artificial intelligence come in aid. Used correctly, these will create personalized learning experience to meet some of these challenges.
A personalized learning experience help students enjoy a completely unique educational approach tailored to their individual abilities and needs. The anytime access to learning materials just a click away will motivate and reduce drop-out rates. It could also offer professors a better understanding of each student’s learning process resulting ineffective teaching process.
Personalized teaching versus group teaching
The one-o-one tutoring of personal teaching modality can move mountains for students, when used correctly. The orthodox teaching experience in large lecture classes cannot achieve this teachers cannot connect with individual students and/or meet the students’ specific needs. For example, even a small class contain students with a wide-enough range of skills, aptitudes, and knowledge requirements that the teacher cannot possibly meet equally well.
When assignments and instructions are tailored to individual students’ interests, needs, and skills, they will bring in more robust, useful, and varied material into the classroom. And this is what the AI and data-driven education is about to achieve. In addition, it will diversify educational programs, learning experiences, instructional approaches, and academic-support strategies.
AI in Higher Education
AI can cater to the well-exposed modern day students when they go for higher education. Plus today’s teaching has to be student centered. The AI can cater to both these demands by:
- Adjusting the pace of learning – Bernard Marr, in an article in Forbes magazine says, “AI will allow a level of differentiation that’s impossible for teachers who have to manage 30 students in each class [source].” It incorporates all possible learning style into lessons setting the perfect pace for fast learners. Yet it does not allow the slow learners left behind. Therefore, AI realizes the elusive concept of perfect pace for increased number of students. The individualized programs allow students to explore higher education at a comfortable speed as per their individual pace.
- Tailoring learning objectives, approaches, content, and tools optimized for each learner – Sophisticated AI systems analyze student mannerisms and behaviors, and not just static data. The AI algorithm objectively pinpoint issues (variants in the schooling/instructional grey areas) that increase or decrease focus in students. Teachers can tailor lessons based on the student’s response to the instruction. Test scores analysis and pattern tracking help change the concept delivery methods through a slight shift in paradigms.
- Driving learning by learner interests – AI customization drives students’ interest to curriculum. For example, some students may have learning difficulties or challenges that require extra attention or tutoring. Algorithms will be able to identify these and help students to reach their full potential through additional learning materials. This may prevent them from dropping out. Properly implemented, AI can help teachers spend less time on confusing subject areas or mixed messaging thereby accelerating learning.
─ Virtual Assistant – AI has the ability to become the teacher’s virtual assistant. According to Marr: “An educator spends a tremendous amount of time grading homework and tests. AI can make these tasks easier and can also recommend how to close the gaps in learning.” For example, a virtual TA can handle the grading while teachers concentrate on developing effective curricula and provide individualized instruction. University of Georgia AI Masters program has successfully implemented an AI TA with students having a slightest inkling of it. - Giving learners choice about what, how, when, and where they learn – Effective education happens when technology is embraced to student’s advantage giving them the liberty to choose what they want. This makes AI the ideal choice where students can choose curriculum best suited to their ability and interest. The analytical test scores help students identify their own merits and weaknesses to make the near perfect choice.
Big Data in Personalized Learning
Big Data can train AI-based learning systems to work properly. But the data need to be used ethically: students need to be informed about how their personal data might be shared and used by AI algorithms. Many algorithms based on big data are poised to transform learning analytics allowing educators to offer personalized experiences. Learning experience can be enhanced through customized courses. Progress and predictions can be made based on patterns. Paradigm like Log Everything captures all student activity, thus generating a lot of learning data.
AI educational systems are more and more using Big Data paradigms to generate meaningful data. It is empowering instructors, administrators, parents, and students to make better learning and teaching decisions. An example of such is the GLA Learning Management System data for helping teachers and parents track student performance in the digital classroom.
Universal Access for All Students
AI can help break down silos between educational institutions and traditional grade levels. It makes global classrooms available to all, irrespective of their language and physical handicap (visual or hearing impairments.) Presentation Translator is a free plug-in for PowerPoint that creates real time subtitles for a lecture. It enables students who are unable to attend school due to illness, require learning at a different level, or learn a particular subject unavailable in their own institution.
Future………
With a personalized learning experience of AI, students could enjoy a completely unique educational approach. This could increase their motivation and could enable professors to teach more effectively.
As AI educational solutions continue to mature, it will help achieve efficiency, personalization and streamlined admin tasks. It will help nurture human capability that is meant to provide understanding and adaptability and let machines take care of the rest. So AI leverages the best attributes of machines and teachers creating a world where they work together to achieve the best for students. Students of today will need to work in a future where AI is the reality, and it is important that they get the exposure to the technology.
