Is Artificial Intelligence a Fad or a Fact to Come to terms with?

Vinod Kakumanu
Sept. 12, 2019, 10:39 p.m.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) appears to be taking baby steps towards its progress since many prominent figures in the field of science fictionand movieshave been anticipating about the catastrophic changes that would probably arise with the rapid increase of artificial intelligence for decades. But up until now it hasn’t made any suchwaves in this area even though it has become a small part of our everyday lives. Starting from the intelligent sensors for taking perfect pictures, to the automatic parking features in cars, AI in one way or the other is surrounded in our circle most of the time.

Time has shifted in a big way towards technology and the branch where there is somewhat little influence of AI as compared to other sector is in education. We have not reached a stage where we’ll get to see humanoid teachers but with computer intelligence, a better space is provided for students and teachers to simplify their tasks. The following are the roles played by AI in educational sector:

Grading can be an exhausting task at times which sometimes shift the attention of the teachers to deliver lectures within the prescribed time period. Even in lower grades, teachers found that grading at times takes up the valuable time that could be spent to interact with children or prepare lessons for class. But surprisingly AI has taken the place by automating grading system. This is nearly possible in all kinds of multiple- choice questions or fill in the blanks where the software would automatically do the grading. This sounds to be a great relief for the teachers to lower their burden.

The introduction of learning software profited a lot of students from kindergarten to graduate school. This is mainly to promote individualized learning which is an essential part of pedagogical curriculum. These software responds to the needs of the students by focussing on certain topics and repeating things that students haven’tunderstood or generally supporting them with fundamental things of education. The customized learning would not only help students but teachers as well at various levels to work together in classrooms and create a constructive class environment. It helps students to cultivate a habit of adaptive learning and teachers to assist them when needed. Some academies like Khan Academy have adopted adaptive learning which is a great sign for progress.

No need to worry about the gaps in lectures or an unintentional error made by students because AI has made that too easy by giving necessary instructions. Coursera, is a platform which corrects when a large number of students are found to be making same kind of mistake and also show them the correct answer and the system also alerts teachers if they have skipped some portions. A great way to fill in the gaps in courses and also to ensure that students are getting cleared with the concepts.

There are some intelligence programmes that give tutorial classes to students on basic mathematics or writing. The stumbling block is that students won’t be able to learn high-order thinking skills and creativity which real teachers can only facilitate.

One of the advantages of AI is that it can give feedback about the working of a course as a whole. Some schools are also engaged with online courses that monitor a student’s progress and give alert timely to teachers if there are any issues with the student performance.These systems permit students to improve in certain areas if needed and teachers to constantly check their working progress and the quality of instruction which is delivered to the students. Some are also working to create systems that avail students in areas where they struggle to understand. This would allow students to take less guidance from teachers which is a great step towards creating brave young minds.

A big break for teachers! With AI taking over the educational domain the work load has only lessened. It can carry forward tasks like tutoring, mentoring and correcting mistakes which is a great substitute for real -world tutoring.

Generally, students face with the fear of failures in exams. They don’t like to be put in thespot inclass on getting less marks. So, AI has consciously made the decision for a judgement- free learning by assisting students with a scope for improvement and intelligence tutors also provide them with solutions. AI has special designs features this to help students to get rid of daunting situations.

An intelligent idea of intelligence to open forum from recruiting to helping children select suitable courses is making education student oriented at its best possible sense.

These pointers provide enough proof that our education is getting artificial not intended to deceive but to perceive various pedagogical tools which is required to better educational outcomes.