The AIvolution of Learning
AI Technology: A Friend or Foe in the Classroom?
THE ADVANTAGES
Beneficial for both teachers and students.
As AI begins to pervade more and more aspects of our daily life, its only natural that we begin to incorporate it into our educational technology toolbox. Despite the fact that it is not yet a widely used tool in education, research suggests that there are some amazing applications and implications to be found in the use of AI tools in the classroom.
An AI success story.
This video explores one Abu Dhabi school initiative with an AI learning platform called Alef Education. In it viewers see an seemingly successful example of AI integration as students discuss how using new technologies is more engaging than traditional methods of teaching.
The program collects data around student strengths and stretches to adapt lessons to personal learning preferences in order to improve learning outcomes.
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One developer interviewed explained how the AI program captures and analyses millions of data points each day in order to meet student needs.
No matter how capable or well-meaning any teacher is, they could not be expected to complete the amount of daily student analysis that the Alef AI does. Thinking of this, the AI technology has great potential in reaching more students than teachers currently can.
CNN. (2020, December 16). Is AI the future of education? YouTube. Retrieved April 3, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7devgjUP2pY
What will happen in a future where AI can teach more effectively than human teachers?
Educator, John Spencer explains that teachers don't need to worry about AI technologies replacing them, as many novel technologies have come into our field of work over the past few decades, and none have replaced the need for teachers yet.
Spencer, J. (2023, March 25). Why AI won't replace teachers. YouTube. Retrieved April 4, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH1OBxYjUm0
While AI has the ability to provide algorithm-based adaptive learning, only humans can provide personalized learning because it is driven by the person and their individual needs. Adaptive learning learning, on the other hand, is driven by programming and asks students to meet global standards rather than personal goals.
Personalized learning is an excellent approach for teaching conceptual material, so in essence, human teachers will always be needed!
