In this article we’ll discuss AI and the benefits and changes it’s bringing to education.

We’ll also be sharing some useful links to tools and platforms using AI in education.

Some educators are understandably fearful of the recent advances in AI technology, particularly with the release of OpenAI’s latest language model, ChatGPT. Students can easily ask the platform to complete homework assignments for them in just a few seconds.

And by showing it a sample of previous work, the AI can even write an essay in the student’s own personal style – complete with grammatical and spelling errors, if desired – adding to the authenticity and to make cheating almost impossible to detect!

So, given all this, what should educators do? And is AI the end of education as we know it?

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Ban AI?

fear of plagiarism, of students not engaging in tasks or of not learning at all, several universities around the globe are resorting to a blanket ban on the use of AI.

Top French University Sciences Po for example, now “strictly forbids the use of ChatGPT or any other tool using AI”, citing sanctions “which can go as far as expulsion from the establishment or even from higher learning”.

There are, of course, many AI detection tools out there – Originality.ai, GPTZero, Writer.com’s Ai detector tool to name but three but no such tool is foolproof.

Speaking to the Guardian for Australia, Toby Walsh, Scientia professor of artificial intelligence at the University of New South Wales said:

“There are technical solutions – digital watermarking, but you can just run another program over it to destroy the watermark. It’s an arms race that’s never going to finish, and you’re never going to win.”

Or Embrace AI?

Whether we like it or not, in the long run, AI technology is going to become a staple part of our lives – so rather than fight it, it seems clear that we, as educators, need to move with it; use it to our advantage and adapt the way we teach accordingly.

Qualification body, The International Baccalaureate is taking this approach. Likening the AI language model to calculators or spell check tools – that when used correctly can add value – they have announced that students will be able to quote from work generated by ChatGPT.

It’s almost inevitable that the nature of learning will change dramatically in the future – both in terms of the content and skills to be taught and also the way students learn.

Rather than focusing solely on written output, for example, students may be encouraged to spend more time working on devising pertinent questions, analysing the creative process, debating, group work, high level critical thinking, communication and presentation skills – all very human activities that the likes of ChatGPT cannot replicate.

In addition, more and more educators are starting to look to AI solutions combined with online or VR activities as part of their teaching methods – which can result in some of the most creative, motivating and highly effective immersive learning experiences.

Speaking of the adoption of VR technology, Graeme Lawrie, Director of Innovation and Outreach Sevenoaks School, UK, recently wrote that his school was “moving away from simply ‘learning’ a subject or topic to ‘feeling’ the content.” He explained that approach:

“allows a student to explore, to experience or to be involved in something, as if they are actually present in that environment or place.”

Benefits of AI to students

By immersing students in technology from a young age, we are likely to be giving them a head start in the future workplace – where use of such technology will inevitably become more and more commonplace. But that aside, let’s consider some of the ways in which AI is already bringing enormous benefits to learners:

• Analyse Learning gaps: Specially designed AI platforms can analyse past performance, and identify learning gaps that can easily go otherwise undetected.
• Personalisation: AI can adapt content to the student, creating a personalised learning experience rather than a one- size fits all approach.
• Questions answered instantly: With the help of AI students can have their questions answered within seconds rather than waiting for a human response – this has the further advantage of encouraging shy students to ask questions without fear of being judged.
• Timely feedback & just-in-time learning: Students can also receive more frequent and timely feedback at the point of learning, when the topic is still fresh in mind and they are more open to learning.
• Engagement: Learning with AI allows for gamification and other engaging learning environments such as VR and AR, which can greatly increase student motivation and engagement.
• Time saving: Using AI to help generate ideas or structure content frees up student time to focus on higher level skills such as analysis or creativity.
• Improved accessibility: With smart data gathering, custom tasks and personalised schedules, the boundaries between students, teachers and educational administrators can be bridged with the help of AI technologies. Barriers based on physical location, language, money can be overcome as we move closer to 24/7 access to all.
• Neurodiversity: Some neurodiverse students who may struggle with traditional settings or learning methods thrive in AI powered environments.

Benefits to educators

There are also many ways in which educators are already taking advantage of AI and these benefits are only set to grow:

• Time saving: AI can take on many of the time consuming jobs that educators are currently expected to do – for example record keeping, and marking. It can also help streamline the planning process – this feeling up the teacher to engage the creative and very human actions that are required to take learning experience to the next level.
• Idea & content generation: AI can save teachers time in creating content, ideas and even learning objectives for teachers to review, amend and use creatively in the classroom, project work or assignments
• Answering student questions: In using AI as a personal tutor, students not only benefit but teachers too. More questions can be answered, teachers can track what’s been asked whilst focusing their efforts on designing interventions to further engage students and plug any learning gaps.
• Analysing student performance: AI can track class attendance, assignment submission and performance on specific tasks to help identify learning gaps or flag up worrying behaviour. This makes it far easier for a teacher to design appropriate interventions in a timely manner.
• Motivating and engaging students: In today’s fast paced, technology-driven world, people crave fun and exciting methods of learning to keep them engaged.

Use cases

Moving on to some interesting use cases, we’ve selected just a handful, but there are so many innovative companies developing AI enhanced solutions to support and enhance learning in students of all ages.

• Seneca: A UK based homework and revision platform that is so sure of its product that it guarantees its students will receive top exam grades or your money back!
• Thinkster Maths: A digital maths tutoring platform that uses AI and machine learning to visualise how a student thinks and personalises content.
• Knewton’s Alta: Designed for higher education, this adaptive learning courseware is designed to optimise the way students study and learn while completing assignments.
• Gradoscope: A platform that not only grades papers but provides students valuable feedback and insights to help instructors monitor progress and learning gaps.
• VirtualSpeech: Focusing on all important soft skills, such as presentation, meeting and interview skills, VirtualSpeech uses immersive VR technology to replicate
• InnerVoice by iTherapy: is an app designed to help neurodivergent children form connections between objects and language and helping them learn.

Conclusions

AI is developing at a rapid pace. It has already impacted the education system and will continue to disrupt.

Educators who stay put, relying only on old methods will find themselves increasingly at a disadvantage – whereas those who embrace the power that is AI and who adopt tools and platforms to reduce time consuming work will be freed up to focus on the more human and creative work of creating learning experiences that really count.

And from the students’ perspective, they are increasingly coming to expect instant feedback, creative, interactive learning activities and gamification as standard.

It seems inevitable that not only the way we teach but also what we teach will change with the continued development of AI. The skill sets required for future generations in the workplace will be more focused on higher level skills of critical thinking, creativity and communication.

Working in education in this era of rapid technological change is exciting and whether in terms of innovating, testing, implementing or simply continued student guidance, every teacher and educator has a role to play in helping define what the learning of tomorrow will look like.