Technology has become a vital tool in the education industry, and as new technologies have evolved, the education sector has successfully integrated them to benefit both students and teachers. One of the most recent examples of technology impacting education is smart tech.
As we detailed in our post ‘8 Ways Smart Board Technology is Shaping the Future of Education’, smart boards improve teaching, increase student involvement, and ultimately enable better learning outcomes. With smart technology now increasingly used in schools, the education sector is preparing for the next tech evolution: Artificial Intelligence (AI). Not since the computer will technology have such an effect on education. Despite being in the early stages of adoption, AI is already predicted to have a big impact, with a 2023 Walton Family Foundation survey finding that 71% of teachers and 65% of students already agree that AI tools will be essential for students’ success in college and the workplace. With AI becoming more widely used in schools, here are seven ways it will impact the future of education.
1. Personalized Learning
Personalized learning is becoming an increasingly essential part of education. Our feature on technology in the classroom by Sobi Tech notes how adaptive learning systems can use data and analytics to assess individual student progress and provide customized learning paths. AI is set to take personalized learning to the next level by more accurately tailoring content and lessons to the student’s individual needs. For example, if a student is struggling or excelling with the current lesson. AI can automatically adjust the lesson for that individual to ensure all students are learning at their optimal level.
2. Content Creation
The most widely known and used AI applications in education are content creation tools, such as ChatGPT. These tools are trained by large language models (LLMS) to provide a near-accurate and engaging experience for users. An article on AI by MongoDB explains how LLMs can be used for general problem-solving, like answering questions, text generation, text classification, and text summarization. In education, content creation tools have allowed students to create study materials. Such as quizzes and flashcards, and they can ask AI to produce study guides.
However, despite the benefits of aiding a student’s ability to study. The biggest impact on the future of education will be using AI as a shortcut instead of learning. As content creation tools become more accurately able to mimic humans. There will be an increase in students using the tools to pass off work as their own. Education’s biggest challenge will be ensuring AI is used as a study aid and not a study replacement.
3. Language Learning
One subject that AI will have a massive impact on is language learning. Frontiers reported on an AI study that showed how a group with AI-mediated instruction received significantly higher language learning outcomes in all assessed areas than a group with traditional language instruction. Not only will AI be able to create personalized lesson plans based on the student’s ability. But it will also be able to create a chatbot that can talk to the student at their level.
4. Functional Needs Education Support
AI’s ability to adapt to individual needs has made it an exciting development in functional needs education, particularly in terms of communication. An AI will be able to instantly convert speech into text for students with harder hearing and vice versa for visually impaired students. It will also be able to produce content and lesson plans that are adapted to the student’s disability.
5. Curriculum Planning and Reducing Burnout
It is not just students who benefit from AI in education; teachers are also seeing a positive impact. Teacher burnout has become a big issue in the education sector. With the National Center for Education Statistics showing that 16% of teachers had quit in the past 12 years due to being “physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted.” AI can automate time-consuming tasks such as curriculum planning that teachers must do when not actually teaching. This can include lesson plans, study guides, and classroom activities. By giving teachers more space and time to focus on the classroom. AI could have a big impact on improving teachers’ work-life balance and reducing the number of teachers leaving the sector.
6. Student and Teacher Analytics and Insights
The amount of data that AI can collect is almost unlimited. And this will have a big impact on how educators are able to help students. Through analyzing data from students and their own lessons. Teachers will be able to make much more informed decisions on how to improve their teaching approach and materials. This data will also give educational institutes a clearer overall picture of how the school operates to help them better allocate time and funds to improve.
7. Privacy Issues
As with cheating, another negative impact AI may have on education is privacy. Due to its sensitive nature, data privacy is very important for a school’s reputation. And while AI can more effectively sort and store data, it also increases the risk of a data breach if it is not managed properly. There is also the ethical case of using AI to track students. As more students use AI to help them study, there is a risk that AI could monitor students beyond reasonable means. Such as what they do during their breaks or out of school. In order to combat these privacy risks, educational institutes must have strong AI regulations and safeguards in place.
Final Words
AI is going to have a massive impact on the future of education. And while most of it will be positive, the education sector must also be prepared for the risks that AI brings to schools.
