The world of academia is becoming more personalized and convenient for students thanks to recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI). The technology has numerous applications that are changing the way we learn, making education more accessible to students with computers or smart devices if they’re unable to make it to class. Students aren’t the only ones who benefit as AI is also helping to automate and speed up administrative tasks, helping organizations reduce the time spent on tedious tasks and increasing the amount of time spent on each individual student.
A recent study from eSchool News discovered that the use of AI in the education industry will grow by 47.5% through 2021 as we move towards a more connected world. The technology’s impact will exist anywhere from Kindergarten through higher education, offering the opportunity to create adaptive learning features with personalized tools to improve the student experience. The technology may be able to better inform students what their job prospects may look like based on their particular narrative as well, helping them beyond their academic life. WorkFusion is helping organizations with smart automation platforms that can improve the grading and filing process in the classroom.
Here are four ways AI is changing the education industry.
The Automation of Administrative Tasks
As previously mentioned, AI has great potential in automating and expediting administrative tasks for both organizations and professors. Grading homework, evaluating essays and offering value to student responses is where educators spend the most time. AI can already automate the grading process in multiple choice tests in order to allow educators to spend more time with students one-on-one, but the technology may soon be able to do more than this. Software developers are creating new ways to grade written responses and essays as well. The admission process is also set to benefit as AI can automate the processing and classification of paperwork.
2) The Addition of Smart Content
The concept of smart content is a hot topic now as robots can create digital content with the same degree of grammatical prowess as their human counterparts, and this technology has finally reached the classroom. AI can help digitize textbooks or create customizable learning digital interfaces that apply to students of all age ranges and grades. One such system called Cram101 uses AI to condense the content in textbooks into a more digestible study guide with chapter summaries, practice tests and flashcards. Another platform called Netex Learning allows lecturers and professors to design a digital curriculum and content across a variety of devices, including video, audio and an online assistant. Virtual content such as digital lectures and video conferences are also a reality now thanks to AI.
3) Smart Tutors and Personalization
AI can do more than condense a lecture into flashcards and smart study guides as it can also tutor a student based on the difficulties they’re having with class material. In the past, students had a limited window of time in which they could see their professors, meaning office hours or hoping they answer their emails. There are now smart tutoring systems such as Carnegie Learning that use data from specific students in order to give them feedback and work with them directly. While this AI application is still in its early stages, it will soon be able to work as a full-fledged digital professor that helps a students with their educational needs in just about any area of need. Also, these platforms will soon be able to adapt to a wide variety of learning styles in order to help every educator and student.
4) Virtual Lecturers and Learning Environment
Even your actual lecturer may soon be replaced by a robot. Well, not entirely, but there are already virtual human guides and facilitators that can think, act and react with humans by using gesture recognition technology in a natural way, responding both verbal and nonverbal cues. A more digital learning environment is also becoming a reality with institutions such as the University of Southern California (USC) Institute for Creative Technologies developing smart virtual environments and platforms. The organization uses AI, 3-D gaming and computer animation to create real virtual characters and social interactions. This initiative includes more than virtual facilitators as augmented reality may soon be part of the classroom as well.
Connecting the World of Academia
We are already in the future of education as institutions all around the U.S. and the rest of the globe have added AI to the classroom, hoping that it will make the students’ work easier. The technology is also slated to improve administrative tasks and improve the way lecturers run their classrooms. Plus, the technology will save billions in administrative costs for institutions across the nation, reducing overhead costs and paving the way for a smaller staff to operate effectively.
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