How AI Can Help To Solve Issues In The Education System

Whether it's the conversational chatbot at e-commerce platforms, sophisticated machines that help detect & diagnose diseases in Healthcare, or the evolution of Self-driving Automobiles, the applications & functionalities of Artificial Intelligence have been transforming our world socially, economically and politically.

A quip in Tesler's Theorem says "Artificial Intelligence (AI) is whatever hasn't been done yet." What if such applications could help augment the development of a sector which is in a dire need of revamping, i.e. “Education”? Like Multiple businesses, COVID-19-induced pandemic forced education institutions across the globe to switch to digital medium.

Classes went online. Assignments became digitally accessible more than ever. Teachers could attend to more students at once. Nevertheless, this abrupt move to online learning— owing to no training, insufficient bandwidth, and little preparation brought about a poor user experience.

How can AI be used in such a context? Does it provide solutions to the existing & underlying issues in the education system? Let’s find out-

1) Leave efficiency & streamlining of tasks to AI:

Today, Artificial Intelligence can help solve any problem. For instance, a teacher may only be able to attend to limited queries at once but that's not the case with AI which has the power to act as a virtual tutor and answer questions on the fly. 

As per a report by UNESCO, about 60,000 schools in China implemented automatic essay correction analytics with a level of precision matching humans’ in 92% of the cases.

If this success rate can be achieved everywhere, it wouldn’t only allow the students & learners the flexibility to find a solution to their problems at their own pace but also relieve teachers. The latter can instead emphasize on understanding & adaptability— personalized human capabilities where machines would struggle.

2) Universal Access to all the learners:

Being Multilingual helps! Yet despite living in an era of globalization, only 13 % of the world population can speak three languages fluently. This is where tools built with Artificial Intelligence applications can help.

It may ease the growth of global classrooms available to all including those who speak different languages or have any impairments. Teachers can conduct a lecture in their native tongue by inculcating universal principles. Even a student who can’t relocate to other schools because of some personal reasons can leverage such facilities to enhance his/ her learning.

3) AI to promote personalization & better learning outcomes:

That said, granting universal access alone wouldn’t suffice as the problems faced by the learners don't end here. For example, a Geography student may find it difficult to comprehend a certain topic, let’s say, “The Jet stream theory”. Under such circumstances, he/ she can either look for the resources online or may opt for online tutoring. However, what if there was a better option? 

A subset of AI, Machine Learning possesses the ability to process a large amount of data that can help build a robust educational framework. An AI engine inclusive of such an application may recommend qualitative repositories that other Geography students and professionals have liked. This would help the students to learn the topics at their own pace, which is more practical & efficient than rote learning. 

4) 4th Industrial Revolution: To be ready or not? 

Lastly, in its recent proposal, “The Great Reset”, the World Economic Forum added the Fourth Industrial Revolution as a Strategic Intelligence as a solution to rebuild the economy sustainably post pandemic.

Therefore, introducing an introductory course on Artificial Intelligence as a part of the curriculum or an elective in Engineering schools can be explored. 

Many more AI applications in the process can help transform our education systems. The unpredictability of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) that comes with Artificial Intelligence only opens doors for exciting innovations.