1. Rohit Manglik May 29,
2019
AI In the Future of Education
rohitmanglik.com/ai-in-the-future-of-education
The idea as wonderful as our routine jobs getting accomplished efficiently with the
blazing speed of light has been there around since mankind’s advent on Earth.
Meanwhile, the creative people from the spheres of arts and literature took more
inspiration to devise plots and stories around the concept of Artificial Intelligence (AI), to
be precise.
Be it ‘Darwin Among the Machines’ that Samuel Butler penned in 1863, ‘Erewhon’ again
written by the same author in 1872, ‘The Machine Stops’ by E. M. Forster in 1909, Fritz
Lang’s 1927 movie ‘Metropolis’ or the recent endeavors of ‘Ex-Machina,’ ‘There Will Come
Soft Rains,’ by Ray Bradbury (1950), and ‘Speak’ by Louisa Hall, (2015), the dreamlike
feats of AI have enthralled the creative world, always.
How AI was in the Past?
It was only in the 1950s that the scientists, philosophers, mathematicians, and a whole
lot of experts that were merely remotely linked with technology and electricity, began
thinking about exploring the possibilities in the sphere of AI. The central idea of
leveraging all the information available to mankind coupled with the faculty of reason
provided the much-needed clue to make, at least, the beginning. The only drawbacks
were the computers. Though the machines could implement the commands, they were a
big failure in storing them.
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2. But from 1974, the computers improved phenomenally. They were now speedier, priced
more reasonably, and stored greater information. Still, this much wasn’t enough to move
ahead with momentum. This was as the machines couldn’t self-recognize, think
abstractly, and achieve success at natural language processing.
In the following decades, particularly of the 80s, greater funding and algorithmic tools
boosted the AI research. Consequently, this led to the popularisation of Deep Learning
methods. These techniques benefitted computers by making them learn via their
experience. Similarly, Edward Feigenbaum brought the expert systems that imitated
decision-making procedures as those of a human expert.
But the Y2K achieved even more feats that led to a successful thriving of AI. This was
even as funding from the governments and the public attention, both lacked addressing
the issues, pathetically.
Role of AI in the Education Sector
Education is one of the sectors from those of transportation, agriculture, aviation,
healthcare industry, media, e-commerce, customer service, games, and toys, etc, that the
massive progeny of Information Technology (IT) is going to influence, and only for their
betterment. The applicable sub-spheres of AI in education lie in tasks relating themselves
with routine. And hence, these are as following:
Undertaking Routine Tasks Efficiently
For example, take the grading. Many teachers consider grading as devouring a significant
part of their immensely valuable time. They observe that they can use the time whiled
away in the grading of the scores more efficiently.
Using AI in this sphere will hover close to human capacities. On the front of accuracy, the
AI-driven systems will grade nearly every type of fill-in-the-blank and multiple-choice
exercise. And, they will also outperform human efforts in volume. Similarly, automating
grading of students’ writings will pick up the tempo soon, if not at present. Teachers,
hence, can feel delighted for the coming times! For this, they can thank the marvel of AI!
Encouraging Customised Learning
The programs constituting the software of AI play an extremely crucial role. They are
framed to recognize and retain the replicated patterns related to the study of the
students. The AI-powered systems, hence, will store each student’s unique pattern of
study. Consequently, they’ll study them to create a syllabus that is shaped more
accurately with his/her preferences regarding the study.
Providing Enlightening Feedback to Teachers on Students
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3. The machine’s recognition of these distinct patterns will obviously end in the creation of
great responses regarding students’ interests. These responses will advise the authorities
on the strong and weak areas of students’ improvement. And, these suggestions will be
directed towards students’ benefit, ultimately. This is, because the authorities, thus, can
identify and suggest improvements for the weak spheres of students’ performance.
Undertaking Garnering of Students for Schools and Colleges
The uniquely tailored learning for each student will also result in pupils embracing higher
education, in their disciplines of interest. This draws the scenario of their prospective
schools and colleges signaling them for undertaking their admissions. Hence, the AI-
driven systems will greatly ease simpler and faster beaconing of the students for the
educational institutions.
Teachers Dedicating Themselves More to Teaching
The undertakings of routine tasks as that of grading will naturally leave teachers with
more time to undertake only teaching. Thus, they’ll be able to interact more with their
pupils and provide lectures to them. The prowess of Artificial intelligence, therefore, is
here to benefit students and teachers, alike.
How AI will Change in the Coming Future
Of all initial customer interactions, between 70 to 90% is likely to be managed or
conducted by AI.
This technology can increasingly undertake and test product development in various
sectors. These sectors can range from manufacturing equipment to consumer goods and
fashion items.
Sectors ranging from travel through to banking, savings, and insurance will invite
individuals for defining and designing the customized services/products.
All government agencies and legal systems, most likely, will employ the technology. Only
the most difficult cases asking for full court proceedings and a human judge will be a few
exceptions.
Vehicles powered with autonomous driving will start dotting many cities across the
globe.
Our smart assistants will be able to manage our lives greater than ever. They will
increasingly have their say in spheres ranging from compiling the information we need
prior to a meeting to travel planning.
Contribution of Technology in Changing the Future of
Education
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4. The current capacity of the AI education market is nearly 0.5 billion dollars. This figure,
most likely, will rise to 6 billion by the end of 2024. With investments as phenomenal as
these, it is highly relevant to discuss upon the opportunities of revolutions that AI can
stage in the sphere of education.
Best Teaching Methods to be Determined by Smart Algorithms
Smart algorithms can determine the best teaching methodology for each student. Not
each of the students assimilates well when they encounter a teacher speaks to them all
the time. This will help in recognizing students with disabilities in learning and meeting
their needs soon in their education. This will, consequently, take them towards attaining
improved grades.
Improved Prediction for Students’ Individual Career Paths
After making selections, universities usually call students for the courses they don’t want.
Partly, this is because most students choose almost identical courses and our
educational institutions don’t have enough room to receive each one for what he/she
chooses. AI systems, with teachers’ help, will amass student data and estimate the best
career paths for students, individually. This will make the course selection process of the
universities seamless and simple.
Get Ready for Smart Schools
Schools will be developed on the new marvel of the internet of things (IoT), a technology
that entails linking different devices with the internet. These devices will carry
communication with each other. Moreover, they will also invigilate things such as
lighting, alarms and even various maintenance needs before they occur. Smart
classrooms laced with these devices will monitor exams and consequently, suppress
cheating. These classrooms will equip themselves with the facial recognition technology
that will oversee student attendance. It will even produce data on the length that a
student spent in a class session.
Social media in education
The invasion of social media into the educational system is also for its betterment. It’ll
allow educators and learners to post ideas, thoughts, and reflections in an environment
supporting interactive learning. Moreover, students can follow their influencers and
assimilate lessons from their posts.
Global Learning
Over the internet, there are a number of sites like Duolingo, fluent, etc, where students
can take lessons in the language(s) of their intended learning. They can avail this lesson
from a native speaker living in the native country of that language. What’s more, they can
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5. attend these lessons via video calling apps like Hangout, Skype, etc.
Learning under a native speaker, learning via social interaction, and getting familiar with
the perspective of another’s culture, are all extraordinary educational advantages.
Similarly, learning from podcasts is one of the popular learning methods. Hundreds of
free of cost educational programs are now available online. These are the great sources
to sharpen one’s skills with the benefit of studying within the comforts of their homes.
Witnessing Cost Reduction
Online learning has realized one more of the much-desired yearnings students of
reducing the costs of availing education significantly. This is, as everything worth learning
is accessible online now.
Virtual Reality Realizing Highly Improved Models and Simulations
Brands like Samsung, Oculus, and Google are revolutionizing the educational sphere
through innovative learning resources. These technological resources are really capable
of fully engaging students in the dullest of their subjects. Imagine the excitement when
students will witness large sea whales splashing huge waves of water in the classrooms,
under a 3D simulation. Or, for that matter, picture students dissecting a 3D simulated
image of a frog, rendering absolutely no harm to the creature. Yes, these things are
going to stir a storm in education, now.
The Summary Therefore
And these are only a few of the possibilities that we’ve discussed. There are still more to
amaze you. Thanks to the marvels of recent technologies, our students are enviously
placed much better than their counterparts of earlier generations, to avail understanding
difficult concepts of the study, almost effortlessly. And this massive transformation has
just begun. Hold your breaths for exhilarating more marvels, both in numbers and
manners.
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