With the advent of artificial intelligence, or AI, the education sector has been in the limelight. Initially when ChatGPT was launched in 2022, it was thought that it would badly hit the education system due to its potential to enable plagiarism. Al instills fears for a variety of reasons, though we now know it a little better. However, the debate on AI today is not revolving around the idea of rejecting or accepting it, but how to adapt to it. Let’s explore this new technology and see how it is expected to impact our education system.
Should Teachers Reject AI Altogether?
Not at all. The role of AI is only going to increase in the coming years, and those who refuse to adapt to these new changes will be left behind. Currently, only the rich and industrialised countries have the capacity to do experiments with AI in the classroom; however, soon the rest of the countries are expected to follow. It is just like the introduction of personal computers a few decades ago, and as we know today, a large number of countries have computer-assisted learning in schools, colleges, and universities all over the world. The impact of AI in the classrooms will be multifaceted, and it is expected to improve the quality of teaching in the coming years. Those education systems that introduce AI systematically with proper research and teacher training are expected to benefit more than others. Similarly, since rich countries are experimenting with the AI and its latest products, there is a very high possibility that middle-income and poor countries will be left behind in this competition.
AI and Its Positive Impact on Teachers
By now, most of us have already noticed the impact of AI around us. Just like other sectors, the education sector is also experiencing new changes with the arrival of AI and its related fields. In some countries, teachers have already gone through several pilot projects to see if the new technology is helping teachers and improving their productivity. According to one such project, teachers noticed they are more productive when they use AI tools.
The teachers in the study took ideas from generative AI and used them in the classes. Some teachers also found out that leaving repetitive work to generative AI also saved them a lot of time, and they could use that time for other important tasks. Since generative AI is always available, teachers can leave some work for the AI and focus on creative ideas that could be more beneficial for the students. What is also noticed in this study is that such research on teachers is relatively new, and it is still unclear how AI tools are impacting the productivity of teachers.
Robots are Unlikely to Replace Teachers
Robots have been introduced in some countries on an experimental basis, but these robots are very basic. History tells us that all previous attempts to replace machines with humans have failed eventually. One of the main reasons why such attempts failed in the past was that students were not able to connect with such teaching platforms. This is why AI is unlikely to replace teachers this time, too. Some of the earliest attempts to produce a machine teacher were made about 100 years ago, in 1924, and since then we have seen many attempts in which inventors tried to replace human teachers; however, all these attempts proved to be unsuccessful.
In most cases, students were not able to learn in all such experiments. In some recent cases, some platforms provided online videos and other such materials to students, but it was noted that students eventually logged off. Now, so many universities have adopted AI tools in 2024, but it is still unclear how these experiments are going to work out. Students usually face difficulties in their studies in one way or another, and they need emotional support from a human teacher, something which a machine can not provide. When students are not able to make those emotional connections, they lose interest at one point, and this is where a machine fails to inspire students. Other than this, there are other concerns, such as data privacy issues and lack of creativity in machine teaching, as they teach millions of students the same kind of syllabus, which are also there.
Conclusion
Looking at the super-fast growth in the AI tools, it is not difficult to predict that AI may change our education system faster than our predictions. We have noted above that the research on AI tools is in the development process, and we can expect that new research will provide us more answers in the near future. Let’s not try to shy away from this new and aspiring world of technology and try to adapt to it despite all the challenges.
Read more industry-related blogs here.
Pictures by Freepik
