Although Artificial Intelligence (AI) is still a fairly fresh technology, it’s developing rapidly. Already now, we can see its huge potential in various sectors, including education.
From student assistants to content creation help for teachers, there are already many ways that AI is being used or can be used in education. In this article, we will tell you about the main ones. Let’s dive in!
1. Virtual Assistants
Today, students already have plenty of great tools available to make their studies simpler and more effective. For example, there are homework help platforms like Do My Homework ABC that help students save time and boost their grades. And there are many other tools, apps, and resources that also help. Now, imagine if AI would also assist students.
AI-powered virtual assistants can help students with a variety of tasks, such as scheduling, assignment reminders, and answering questions. And there are already quite a few examples of this technology. For example, FLEX AI by ICS is already working and helping students find the answers they are looking for.
2. Personalized Learning
It is probably one of the most popular and widespread (as of right now) uses of AI in the educational field. The trend for personalized learning popped up not so long ago. Right now, only 8% of teachers call it a “top-priority” matter. However, since the positive effects of personalized learning are undeniable, this field keeps growing quickly and is estimated to surpass $2 billion by 2024.
AI has a key role in this process. It can analyze student data and learning patterns to provide personalized learning experiences for each student, including customized study plans, feedback, and resources.Adaptive Testing
AI-powered testing systems can adapt to each student’s performance and provide more accurate and targeted assessments of their knowledge and abilities. This will help schools to assess every student more accurately and effectively. Currently, there is no full-fledged example of such a system. However, experts from the Center for American Progress believe that AI is the future of assessment in education.
3. Automated Grading
The next use of AI in education is mostly meant to assist students. Being a super intelligent technology, AI can easily review and reflect on different types of content. In terms of education, it can grade assignments and give feedback to students based on their performance. This concept can bring two major benefits—save teachers time and also support students’ success with more immediate feedback.
4. Learning Analytics
Unlike some previous points, learning analytics is something that’s already there and widely used by educators. The concept is simple. The use of AI enables schools and educators to analyze large volumes of student data and provide in-depth insights into student performance and learning patterns. This concept should help educators make more data-driven decisions to improve teaching and learning and help students achieve greater results.
5. Predictive Analytics
Like learning analytics, predictive analytics is already a reality. This concept is widely used to drive systematic improvements within the educational sector. Predictive analytics leverages machine learning, statistical algorithms, and existing data to predict future outcomes and their likelihood. In education, in particular, AI can analyze data to identify at-risk students and provide early interventions to prevent academic problems before they occur. This can help educators improve the overall quality of learning and help every student achieve their full potential.
6. Intelligent Tutoring Systems
An intelligent tutoring system (ITS) is defined as a smart computer system designed for instructional purposes. Although it can sound quite complicated, this concept is very old. The idea of the first ITS appeared in 1924 at Ohio State University, when Sidney Pressey created the first teaching machine that could teach students without a human educator. Since that time, the concept has been changing and improving.
The modern concepts of intelligent tutoring systems are powered by AI and can provide students with personalized feedback and support in real time, adapting to each student’s learning pace and style.
7. Natural Language Processing
This concept also isn’t new. By this time, we’ve seen many examples of natural language processing systems designed to interact with humans without other humans’ intervention. A good example of this concept is virtual chatbots that deliver customer support services on different websites. In education, however, there is also space for this technology.
Experts believe that AI can be used to analyze and evaluate written or spoken language for tutoring and assessment purposes. Natural language processing can help students improve their writing and speaking skills through objective feedback and suggestions. And they won’t have to interact with a human teacher to make progress.
8. Fraud Detection
Both machine learning and AI algorithms show huge potential in fraud detection. Thanks to the huge amount of digital information available on the web, and the ease of analyzing both text content and other data, these technologies can easily detect abnormal or fraudulent patterns in different sectors. This concept is already used in cybersecurity, government, and tech industries. But it has the potential for the educational sector too. Namely, AI can detect and prevent cheating and fraud in online testing and exams, as well as in students’ homework assignments.
9. Content Creation
There is no secret that most teachers have to create their own lesson plans and even study materials. This happens due to the lack of one-size-fits-all ready-made materials. Thus, teachers often have to look for what works best for their class and create relevant materials on their own. Since there are already many examples of AI systems creating quality, human-like content, we can assume that AI can also help create educational content such as quizzes, tutorials, and interactive learning modules. This will save a lot of time for teachers and possibly, improve the depth of study materials.
The Bottom Line
As you can see, AI has transformed the education industry a lot, providing teachers and students with a variety of new tools and methods to enhance academic outcomes. With the power of AI, students can receive personalized learning experiences, while teachers can use data-driven insights to make informed decisions about how to improve teaching and learning.
The use of AI in education has led to more accurate assessments of student performance, improved student engagement, and new possibilities for students to learn in innovative ways. While there are some challenges to integrating AI into education, such as concerns around data privacy and ethical considerations, the potential benefits of this technology are immense.
