AI in education may belong to the lesser-known applications of artificial intelligence but it’s definitely one of the most interesting, future-proof, and worth keeping an eye on. It simply transforms the way millions of students worldwide get educated – who teaches them, where, how, and with what result.
And, in the long run, pupils’ and students’ educational achievements translate directly into core competencies and business results of the companies they work for afterward. Obviously, to make them competitive enough, the educational sector must keep pace with the digital transformation underpinning virtually all areas of life nowadays.
Artificial intelligence and human interaction are in the limelight today, and the global AI in education market size reached $2 billion in 2021 with the prospects for lightning-fast growth. AI technology and deep learning systems may enhance the education sector in a variety of ways, including administrative tasks automation, the possibility to provide and receive immediate feedback, and student performance monitoring and prediction.
What’s crucial, is that artificial intelligence in education has something to offer to all kinds of educational institutions as well as to students on all educational levels, including primary and secondary schools, vocational training, and tertiary education provided by higher education institutions or Universities of the Third Age, but also to pupils from underprivileged backgrounds, people with disabilities etc.
Table of contents:
1. Artificial intelligence in education in brief
2. AI – benefits for students and teachers
3. AI in education examples and applications
4. AI in education – 3 inspiring trends to watch out for
Artificial intelligence in education in brief
Improving the impact and relevance of the learning process is something worth fighting for, and AI-based systems are one of the means that make it happen.
Their applications seem to be countless, and cover instances from lesson planning and assisting administrators in scheduling courses smoothly to taking care of the security of the school’s IT network.
Other AI in education use cases embrace:
- quicker test preparations,
- grade assessment for teachers (grading not only tests, but also essays),
- learning difficulties and disabilities diagnosis,
- facilities, budget, and even student behavior management,
to name but a few fascinating AI applications.
With AI’s assistance, students learn foreign languages, mathematics, coding, or writing faster, and knowing that they take advantage of the state-of-the-art technology. And for many students today, AI-based devices, tools, or solutions are just a sign of modernity they expect, preferring them to books and exercise books or traditional teacher-student relationships.
AI – benefits for students and teachers
AI in the classroom can definitely do wonders and make schoolwork more absorbing, effective, and fun for students. But it’s not only pupils but also teachers and other educators who may benefit greatly from adopting AI technology in education.
Some of the benefits of artificial intelligence in education include:
- tracking and enhancing student progress,
- improving student engagement and classroom efficiency,
- increasing parental involvement (as they may track their children’s progress online in real time),
- one-on-one tutoring,
- assignment scoring automation,
- 24/7 access to learning tools and materials,
- providing immediate feedback,
- learning process more personalized for students, customized to their needs,
- identifying gaps in students’ knowledge and creating personalized learning plans,
- planning and grading time reduced for teachers,
- offering new challenges to students based on their achievements.
AI in education examples and applications
The AI in education market is ever-increasing, with more and more useful tools, devices and solutions delivered regularly – not only for traditional, school-based teaching purposes but for edutainment, making learning way more fun.
Some AI in education examples cover:
- speech recognition software,
- virtual learning assistant,
- augmented reality, virtual 3D models,
- interactive materials and devices,
- plagiarism detection,
- gamification, educational game design,
- classroom audio-visual devices,
- Automatic Speech Recognition,
- Learning Management Systems,
- tools assisting visually impaired students,
- voice-to-text tools,
- AI-powered chatbots that answer FAQs, e.g. for enrollment purposes,
- transcription of lectures,
- finding gaps in classwork material,
- distance learning,
- corporate training organizations use.
AI in education – 3 inspiring trends to watch
Undoubtedly, AI-based products can help students and teachers alike in performing many tedious tasks (like document creation, or grading), speed up the learning process, as well as make communication and collaboration smoother, e.g. thanks to getting real-time feedback.
But what are the most promising and inspiring trends regarding AI systems and solutions in education we may observe today?
1. Unrivaled personalization
Making learning paths more personalized and meeting the unique needs of particular pupils is an effective way of keeping students engaged. The unified approach, typical of traditional methods of education, turns out to be unsuited to about 20% of students (10% of top learners, and 10% of underperformers).
For this reason, the use of adaptive learning, creating personalized curriculum, learning and lesson plans, as well as textbooks, assignments and exams – something AI-based solutions enable – are of truly great importance, letting overcome one of the biggest obstacles of the traditional, centralized education model.
2. Superior accessibility
The traditional education was often not easily accessible for many groups (like people with disabilities) and in many circumstances (like the student’s or teacher’s illness). But AI helps overcome such barriers, providing solutions that let many groups (e.g. people with low vision or those with speech disabilities) enter the world of quality education, with valuable resources available 24/7, upon request.
What’s more, is that various real-time solutions regarding collaboration and communication let students take advantage of educational resources wherever they are and at the time that suits them best. This way, an underprivileged student living in a small village in one of the developing countries is able to attend the lecture of a world-renowned university professor, immediately translated into their language.
3. Time-saving automation
Apart from teaching per se, educators perform a huge number of time-consuming administrative tasks and are engaged in tedious paperwork, including record keeping and grading, that take time and resources that should be dedicated to pupils. Automated grading is number one solution on the list, and platforms meant for this purpose are immensely used especially for multiple-choice tests evaluation.
AI-driven digital assistants also make things easier for more and more teachers, supporting them in many ways. A good digital teacher assistant may serve, for instance, as a question-answering smart speaker for a small group of pupils, audiobook reader, translator, or games and quizzes organizer, stimulating students’ creativity.
Students, tutors, parents, as well as school administrators and managers, are all on the list of people who take advantage of AI-based solutions daily. Thanks to Artificial Intelligence, all parties engaged in the education process can be more informed and appropriate decisions can be made faster.
Are you interested in artificial intelligence in schools or machine learning in education in general? You may find many useful pieces of information on EdTech in our insightful blog post >
And if you’re searching for a technology partner to design and develop your AI-based digital product, don’t hesitate to contact us!
