Insights on how AI is shifting patterns and paradigms in education

AI  may not replace schools but it could have some significant impact on certain aspects of the education system. Let us have a closer look at AI's future in education we turn to some industry insiders. Here's what they have to say:

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1. Sergey Karayev, Head of AI for STEM at Turnitin

“AI will increasingly assist instructors in performing tasks that are mostly mechanical, for example, grading with helpful feedback, or identifying students that are about to struggle on a test. On the student side, AI will be able to provide increasingly complex services, such as suggesting ways to improve their writing, providing hints for solving math problems, and identifying specific gaps in their knowledge."

2. Dan Ayoub, General Manager for Microsoft Education says

“I expect we’ll see three things happen.

First, AI will continue to help students personalize their learning experience and ultimately, see better academic outcomes. Software like Office365 is already using AI to help improve students’ learning experience, but we’re only at the beginning of what’s possible. Today, tools like the editor in Microsoft Word use AI to scan students’ papers and make suggestions for more inclusive language and redundant words. PowerPoint is also now using an AI-powered tool called Presentation Coach that records a student as he or she presenting slides and offers a dashboard with feedback on things like word choice, pacing and filler words. These types of naturally integrated AI tools will offer students more control over their learning experience, which boosts their confidence and overall love of learning.

Secondly, at an institutional level, I think we’ll see more and more universities using AI to track student performance and predict patterns, enabling the university to proactively address student needs, which also improves student retention rates.

And third, I would anticipate we’ll see AI playing the role of a teaching assistant, both in K-12 and in higher education. Again, this speaks to the notion of collective intelligence, whether the educator becomes even more effective with the support of AI. We are already seeing some of the most cutting edge educators like Dr. David Kellerman leveraging AI chatbots to address student questions between lectures, and I expect to see more of this in the years to come. When AI becomes an educator’s digital assistant, they are able to use their time differently, focusing more on the part of the job they love – teaching – and less on administrative tasks.”

3. Paul Mumma, CEO of Cerego, says

“One major aspect coming into focus in the future is the use of AI to gather insights on students and their knowledge. At Cerego, we use AI and machine learning to empower educators with insights on what students are learning and mastering, and what they are not. With more back-end awareness, educators are able to understand where students are struggling and where they thrive. By having clear insights into students’ learning patterns and their areas of struggle, teachers will in turn be better able to tailor their material. He is also clear that one now learn how to better cater to remote students and deliver the same caliber of in-person education.

4. Chris Nicholson, CEO of Skymind says

“AI is usually just a component in larger systems. What you'll see in the future is combinations of AI with other technologies like augmented reality, where students are able to look at the world through goggles or their phones, and AI will recognize what they're looking at, and teach them about it.

Also, a lot of great techniques in education can be improved with AI. Let's say you're learning a language. There are great timed repetition courses out there for that, but they're not very interactive yet. AI will enable those apps to learn more about the student at each step, each time they come back for a lesson, to focus on the things they haven't mastered yet.”

5. David Lee, Chief Operating Officer at Kastling Group

“Personalized education that figures out learning types and curates education based on historic data. Everyone learns differently and at different paces based on subject, so there will be a further push towards personalized education.”

6. Tom Livne, CEO and co-founder of Verbit, avers

“AI's ability to make education accessible to sectors of the population that have been previously left behind is driving innovation for all students. Since education organizations are increasingly expected to serve students with disabilities better, technology adoption is happening faster than in other industries, which accelerates innovation in this space. This trend is expected to continue growing, opening the door to personalized learning processes, platforms and paths, that allow each student to maximize her or his learning based on specific preferences and learning goals, thus nurturing a curious, passionate generation that's looking to make a big positive impact on the world.”

7. Vishen Lakhiani, CEO of Mindvalley says, “The future of A.I. is self-directed learning. Students who embrace A.I. are casting aside more traditional, and often outdated curriculums, to pursue and plan their dream lives. They’re encouraged to create a vision for who and what they want to be in the world and what they want their relationships to look like. This is done by opening up people's eyes to the possibilities of the world and writing these down in some sort of platform. The A.I. then works backwards to create custom education to achieve that vision of who you want to be.”

8. Franz Chen, CEO of Ponddy Education avers,

“With the integration of IoT and 5G, AI has the potential to replace classrooms with virtual classrooms. We see this already as online schools, tutoring and course offerings become more prevalent, and we move towards the mass customization of education. Education will be redefined as continuous learning versus discrete curricula-based courses. The industry will refocus our lens “in the classroom” from how AI tools are being used to teach to how students are using AI to learn. We need to educate our students not only with AI but about AI. Students need to be trained how to use AI as they become the future workers who will shape the world.”

9. Bill Salak, CTO at Brainly, says

“I've talked a lot about this in the short and medium-term in my previous answers so I'll go long-term and a bit idealistic in my answer here”. He avers that  AI-based solutions will produce a radically new educational system.

I believe that the education system of the future is based on individual pace and progression with highly adaptive content and the testing that we know today will be replaced with interactive proof of knowledge mastery and the ability to apply the mastered knowledge in a meaningful simulation. We will no longer have grades like K – 12, or standardized testing, and the role of the teacher will be much more aligned with that of an expert facilitator or education coach.

I believe AI will produce novel and powerful new forms of learning well beyond what we think of as education today and the concept of school will transform into systems of life-long learning that we will use from early childhood learning through occupational training and beyond.”

10. Jennifer Jones, Ph.D., CEO of Green Ivy Schools, says,

“All learning in basic areas (mathematics, grammar, foreign languages, historical fact, introductory science) will be managed by AI with “teachers” replaced by facilitators and behavior managers with exponentially larger class sizes than we are accustomed to and more likely…..most students at the post-secondary and even high school levels completing AI-supported programs virtually and more in-depth studies on-site. The “flipped” classroom (lectures and AI-supported self-guided lessons via the web.then collaborative work live on campus w peers and mentors) will trickle down from post-secondary to high school soon.”

11. Andreas Oranje, General Manager at Educational Testing Service, says,

“AI should be seen as a more complete partner and supporter of teachers as we move forward. It is and should continue to be seen as a helpful guide in providing teachers deeper insight (data) and through automation of more routine tasks to make more time for teachers to coach and mentor students.”

12. Dee Kanejiya, founder and CEO of Cognii, says,

“AI is still an emerging technology in education and therefore it has a huge potential in future in advancing both the science and business of education. Most of our current educational tests are based on a simple format of multiple-choice questions which is not an accurate measurement of learning.

AI will change it in future such that we will measure learning in the most authentic way that is practically relevant for work. AI will play a crucial role in improving the access and affordability of education to anyone anytime anywhere. It will augment the capability of teachers across the K-12, higher education, and corporate training segments.”

13. Joe Caprio, VP of Sales at Chorus.ai, says,

“Many universities are now offering courses and degrees in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Universities are seeing the value of AI in education and hopefully, that will continue to grow. 

With UT Dallas being one of the first schools to implement Chorus.ai into his curriculum, Dr. Dover is becoming a catalyst for utilizing real-life AI-platforms to help students garner real-life experience.”

14. Viola Lam, founder and CEO of Find Solution Ai, avers,

“Repetitive jobs or data-driven tasks must be simplified in the future. With the help of AI, institutions can be more cost-effective and better allocate manpower with the corresponding task. However, AI cannot replace all manpower some humanized tasks require a real person to handle. 

AI is an assistance for teachers who are hard to be replaced. Through AI and Big Data, teachers no longer need to invest a lot of time on heavy, repetitive and simple tasks, such as 

assessment grading. Based on AI analysis of learning data, the same goes to our AI-Driven Motivation Learning Model – 4LittleTrees, teachers can spend more time to educate students according to their specific needs, understand the characteristics of students and their problems encountered in learning and provide assistance to them. The quality of students’ personalities can also be significantly improved. Teachers have responsibilities beyond imparting knowledge, such as the establishment of moral education and values, which is exactly what AI and technology cannot do.”

15. Jiajia Zhang, Product Manager at Gooroo, avers,

“AI will assist teachers to create a blended learning environment in class, which integrates online learning with the traditional face-to-face classroom settings. Students can easily start learning a lesson on their own through adaptive learning software, and bring their questions to class. Taking writing as an example, students can practice writing an article on their own and receive feedback immediately through AI. Teachers’ role will become more about designing curricula and guiding students through their self-learning process. The focus for teachers will also be to design and plan activities where students can apply the knowledge and skills to solve real problems.”

16. Mike Dierken, CTO at Varsity Tutors, says,

“The future of AI in education will help make online learning accessible, scalable and affordable to all. Being able to have access to a personal tutor in any subject wherever and whenever a student needs it will help each individual student learn in a way that is best for them.”

17. Alain Goudey, Chief Digital Officer at Neoma Business School, avers,

“Education is going to be AI-enhanced, but I do not believe AI will replace professors completely, nor will all students learning become distant. 

Learning is a social process as you learn a lot from others: our brains have been set up to learn this way by looking at peers, repeating gestures, comparing experiences, combining ideas, trying and failing before succeeding, having pleasure and/or feeling the challenges in the process, etc. "

Indeed, we know that AI can augment human skills. We just need to use this well.

Our views

We can see that all experts are clear that AI is surely going to be part of education. This will surely  enhance the value of education for both the trainers and students.