The AI classroom is already here: here’s what comes next
The artificially intelligent classroom is already with us. It’s not about robot teachers or VR headsets: instead, the AI classroom offers technologies that ‘upgrade’ flesh-and-blood teachers and enable new educational experiences. The AI education market is expected to grow incredibly quickly this decade, reaching $88.2 billion globally by 2030, all powered by technologies that create lesson plans, grade papers, and track progress. But perhaps the most exciting application of AI technology in education is improving the way lessons are taught and the way children learn.
Generative artificial intelligence can not only deliver personalized and adaptive learning experiences, it can also provide teachers with immediate feedback and parents with insight into how a child is performing. For parents, teaching is too often a ‘black box’, and for teachers, feedback is often something that is too expensive for institutions to deliver. Research by Stanford University has already highlighted the value of automated feedback from AI systems, with teachers in the study helping to build on student contributions, and students being happier with lessons that used AI feedback.
The promise of the ‘AI classroom’ is to improve the way teachers deliver lessons. For example, by using generative AI to analyze recordings of lessons, AI can become a tireless assistant that provides advice to improve the educational experience for parents, students and teachers.
CEO and co-founder of GoStudent.
Forging connections
AI in education can help break down the barriers that have traditionally existed around the educational process. The Stanford study highlights the promise of giving teachers feedback on their teaching, but a world where this could be applied to regular learning spaces would deliver entirely new learning experiences, addressing challenges from the accessibility of learning materials to the historic lack of transparency in class.
Automatically generated lesson transcripts (or ‘lesson summaries’) can provide parents with a ‘window’ through which they can see how their child is performing. Teachers can get immediate feedback on what works and what doesn’t. For teachers, the feedback not only saves administrative burden (by suggesting areas for further research), but can also provide insights that can ‘upgrade’ the educational process and provide learning tailored to the needs of that specific child.
Supporting people
People often portray the classroom of the future as a dehumanized, robotic place. But the role of AI is to improve humans. A 2024 scientific paper published in the journal Computers and Education highlighted that the teachers most interested in generative AI are ambitious teachers, teachers who value autonomy, and teachers who are stressed by their workload. Artificial intelligence can be a workhorse that handles administration, with capabilities like creating quizzes on the fly or generating complex lesson plans in minutes. The teacher has the freedom to focus on performance for the students and becomes both a curator and a creator.
Human insight and creativity will always be central in education. AI algorithms can only work with existing data and lack the inspiration and reasoning that humans can bring. The best teachers of the future will be people who can create new ideas and new approaches, but who also engage with technology to give children the best possible experiences. AI-enabled teachers, armed with instant feedback and content creation tools, will be able to deliver more than their unenhanced colleagues.
The classroom of the future
This is just the beginning. As more and more teachers adopt AI tools, more data will be at the fingertips of those who design such tools. The most successful autonomous car projects are those that ‘learn’ from the cars around them and from the street. In the same way, artificial intelligence will “learn” from how teachers succeed and deliver personalized, incredible experiences. For example, if a young child is a Star Wars fan, an AI teacher might appear as Darth Vader.
It will be natural for children to interact with advanced AI in this way. To us it feels unusual, but to children it will be no different than playing a video game. This evolution will happen quickly. To me, the AI revolution is similar to the Internet revolution, but the speed of iterations has increased. If AI is implemented effectively and properly in education, in five years it will be possible to give children access to education we never thought possible, so that every child has the perfect teacher, supplemented with artificial intelligence.
A new way of teaching
If allowed, artificial intelligence will completely change the possibilities in education. It can work seamlessly behind the scenes to improve children’s learning, while also enhancing teachers’ skills by providing invaluable feedback. Politicians and industry leaders need to be aware of this and work to build AI into the education pathway, ensuring that teachers are trained in the use of AI tools, and that access to AI is considered a standard part of the educational path for young people. people. In the longer term, AI will do enormous good for children – and this is just the beginning.
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