Impact Of Artificial Intelligence On Education: Current Realities

The interrelationship of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and education will continue to grow and evolve as data science continues to integrate itself into all fields. To believe that AI will have no impact on education would be foolish. AI in education is one of the fields that is expanding the most in the present times. Although educators are still trying to find the best way to use AI for pedagogy at large, it can have a profound impact on teaching and learning in higher education. The advantages and disadvantages of artificial intelligence in education and how it impacts society were discussed. This paper will discuss the application of artificial intelligence in education. It will go through some of the educational uses of artificial intelligence. The paper also discusses the current personalized learning systems, smart content consumption, widespread use of AI, and how these have been used to meet the needs of students, focusing on the context of the United States. This paper concludes by highlighting the difficulties faced so far by AI-based educational systems and the possibilities of AI in the educational sector.

Introduction

Education is dynamic and evolving, especially in today’s era where the Internet and technology are becoming more integrated into education. The development of education in the present times is moving towards incorporating technology, especially AI, into the education sector. Artificial Intelligence (AI) represents the theory and development of intelligent machines that are capable of performing tasks close to human-level intelligence, it includes computer vision, speech recognition, recommendation engines, machine learning, deep learning, and data personalization1. AI is prevalent throughout our lives today. It is responsible for suggested content on popular websites from YouTube to Apple’s Siri and the emergence of self-driving cars. These applications of AI have enabled scientists to come up with technologies that encourage and replace human intervention in industry settings.

The rapid development of new technologies is transforming education and presents a vast realm of possibilities for the future. If one considers the history of technology and the integration of the internet into our lives, we can see some parallels in the field of education. The internet has made previous concepts such as the library, letter mail and face-to-face interaction with others a thing of the past. When a student needs to research something they will first look at online databases instead of going to the library. If there is a need to contact someone in person they will send an email and if someone wants to interact socially they will log on to their Facebook or Instagram page. Indeed, the internet and the integration of technology into our lives has changed the status quo of what we used to consider “normal” or tradition. Thus, why should we assume that the integration of technology and especially AI should be different?

The relationship between technology and education is multifaceted and it can help both teachers and students alike.

AI can be integrated into classrooms to provide additional study material for students, personalize individual learning. AI can help teachers free up their time in designing lectures, grading exams, and even sending emails on behalf of instructors. The supporting role of a teacher is moving towards a transformation into a human assistant versus an AI-based algorithm. Thus, creating technologies that complement educational efforts is necessary and important as it will benefit both students and teachers alike. Educational technologies will also assist underprivileged students who suffer from lack of resources by promoting personalized learning by enhancing the performance of these students through access to computers and the Internet.

This article will focus on the educational fields that AI has an impact on and will take a particular look at the role of AI systems in the context of the United States. It will focus on personalized learning, smart content creation, universal access, task automation, and 24/7 assistance. Finally, the paper will also discuss how AI is driving change in these specific fields and how AI will become a useful tool that will become more prevalent and useful for teachers and students in the near future.

Impact of AI on Education Sectors

As technology continues to develop, so does the integration of AI. AI is already prevalent in our society and continues to evolve as technology develops. As AI technology develops, so will its integration into the education sector. Companies such as Amazon, Google, and Facebook have recently contributed $25 million to the creation of artificial intelligence education (AIED) products1. They join other well-known, multimillion-dollar-funded AIED businesses such as Knewton and Carnegie Learning. The growing awareness of the importance of technology and education has given rise to worldwide initiatives such as the “Global Learning XPRIZE”. The XPRIZE challenged teams to develop openly available software that would teach children basic reading, writing, and math in less than 15 months and the winner would be awarded a prize of $15 million. Initiatives like XPRIZE demonstrate the opportunity to increase educational achievement worldwide and help reduce the inequities in resources and access that many students struggle with.

AI is also being incorporated into the curriculum in some traditional schools to provide more personalized support to students through online tutoring. It is also being researched as a tool to enhance teacher preparation. The market for AI in educational contexts is expected to be worth $6 billion by 2024, indicating the growing demand and outlook for these technologies4. The paper will further discuss educational areas where AI is making a significant impact in the field, including: personalized learning, smart content creation, universal access, task automation, and 24/7 support.

Personalized Learning

The process of personalized learning in software comes from the use of data mining, big data, and related technologies to customize education for a specific student or class. Here, the emphasis is on educational data mining (EDM) and learning analytics as the primary data resources for personalization in the education industry to generate algorithms for personalized learning systems. EDM focuses primarily on creating algorithms to better understand the learning environment and make more accurate predictions about what students need to learn better. The more data an AI system has about the student, the better the system will be at predicting the appropriate resources to allocate to the student for a better understanding of the content. Learning analytics also primarily addresses the issue of how to effectively employ those machine learning algorithms in AI. EDM and AI have seen significant success in recent years as the data available for resources is constantly growing, providing more opportunities for appropriate matching of relevant information to the student. Future steps in this process involve examining data for patterns to create predictive models that help teachers choose the best learning options for each student’s learning style. The increased use of Big Data, EDM, and Learning Analytics in education has led to increased opportunities to employ AI in the industry.

We will likely see a shift toward the use of AI due to two recent significant developments in learning analytics. The first is the digital performance of instructional and assessment processes compared to the typical pen and paper method. Assessment tasks in particular are benefiting from a far higher level of machine automation and processing than before. The second development is that students now have greater access to smart devices. These devices can provide data for a better understanding of student context and usage habits. More importantly, these developments have generated a vast amount of data that can be captured using AI algorithms. A teacher-digital assistant symbiosis can give students a more significant learning experience. It must be acknowledged that AI systems are not at the stage where they will be able to completely replace a teacher in the classroom. Rather, the AI system will reduce the pressure on the teacher to provide individual time and allocate specific resources to each student. Thus, with the help of the AI system, teachers will be able to provide maximum support to their students.

Interrelationship between student, teacher and AI-based software support system. Initially, the teacher is the one who creates the content of the course. This can extend from primary school education to university level education and can also extend to a wide range of subjects from science to humanities and even arts. Ultimately, however, it is up to the teacher to decide what content and at what level he or she would like the AI system to include in order for students to learn. This decision remains independent of the teacher and is not determined by the AI system. The AI system, rather, is involved in providing supplementary information to the student and providing additional, personalized support. This process is especially useful for teachers who deal with a large number of students and find it difficult to find time to provide individual assistance. This iterative cycle continues with constant interaction of all components of the model: the teacher, the student, and the AI system.

AI presents a potential solution to the high teacher-student ratio and provides support to under-resourced schools that teachers must face and work with. In the context of rural Alabama, USA, AI has helped a disadvantaged and under-resourced school with a low student-teacher ratio increase their academic achievement scores. This Alabama school has seen a 15% increase in students’ reading proficiency after integrating AI into the classroom. AI presented a successful alternative to increasing the number of teachers in the school. Due to budget constraints, many schools are often not able to hire new faculty or teaching assistants. Thus, the AI alternative was a successful way students could receive more personalized learning opportunities while schools did not have to invest in hiring new teachers. Rather, these schools can allocate resources to download AI software that can be installed on all computers in the respective school. A much cheaper, but nonetheless successful alternative to improving student learning. AI-based education systems can be used to help reduce the burden of teachers who have large class sizes and are unable to provide personalized education. The integration of AI in classrooms can be used across the world to reduce the disparity of educational equality.

AIED also differs from human teachers who must be present in a physical location to teach students. A prominent example of an online learning system is Khan Academy. Khan Academy is a leading online free learning tool that can be used by students around the world. This system allows learning a wide range of subjects taught primarily by the founder Salman Khan. Anyone can learn using these technologies from any location in the world at their convenience. Again we see that through the increased use of technologies and AI, the disparity in educational equality is decreasing.

Effectiveness of Personalized Learning Systems on Education System

Personalized learning systems or environments (PLS/ES) have been shown to improve e-learning experiences and facilitate interactions. Over two semesters of computer programming classes, 110 undergraduate students participated in the study on the effects of PLS. The study showed that the PLS system assisted students in achieving their desired learning objectives and improved their educational experiences. In a separate research study, researchers Kose and Arslan17 found that customized mobile learning using AI and augmented reality (AR) enhanced both the learning process and the outcomes of open computer education. It has been consistently shown through research that highly personalized learning will help students succeed and AI technologies can help in this matter.

Statistical Record of Online Education Market

The statistics demonstrate the growing role of AI in personalized learning and the online education market. The graph below shows the increased amount of revenue going to the online education market in China. The online education market is indeed a tool that is becoming increasingly widespread in our society today and significant events such as the COVID-19 pandemic have shown the ease and effectiveness of such online platforms for learning. One example of an online learning education tool is Coursera that uses personalized learning. Coursera uses a personalized learning method where they use AI to create various courses through analysis of the students’ wants and needs. They are then able to provide the student with a personalized learning space.

Smart Content Creation

The days of all classroom content being recorded only in books and through classroom lectures are changing. Now, with the help of AI, many learning materials can be digitized and turned into smart content. AI has the capability to create course material that can be converted into digital format and the content can be updated to conform to the latest scientific findings or historical discoveries through AI technology, further revolutionizing the education system and changing it for the better. The course material can be supplemented by AI recommended course material and additional websites and online resources

Digital Courses

Within digital learning, AI has created study materials, digital textbooks, and e-learning platforms that use AI, i.e., Coursera and Udemy, to create personalized courses so that all students can take their desired courses and learn from those platforms.

Updating Content Knowledge

AI allows for updating course material that allows students to learn about the latest content. Currently, some textbooks may be outdated and the teacher’s information may not represent the latest knowledge. The integration of AI will make this issue obsolete through access to fully updated online content via the internet.

Personalized and Differentiated Instruction

Personalization of learning is a method that educators and schools have constantly strived to achieve. For years, schools have preferred tailoring instruction to meet the specific needs of each student. However, AI enables levels of differentiation and personalization that would be difficult for instructors to achieve if they had a large number of students in each class. AI is able to detect student knowledge gaps and assist students by employing smart content development based on student needs. AI systems are designed to keep the same curriculum in different formats for different students based on their level of understanding and focus on new topics when necessary. As AI continues to develop, it is possible that the system will be able to recognize the expression on a student’s face that shows confusion in understanding a concept and adjust the lesson accordingly. Currently, it is not practical for the regular educational system to tailor the curriculum to the needs of each student. In contrast, AI-powered robotic assistants are able to do this using proper context.

Universal Access

AI based products allow for more equitable access to resources which promotes use and helps students from all socio-economic backgrounds. This includes students who are disabled and require special education. It also provides access to students who face a language barrier in education. New AI based programs are allowing students to receive subtitles for what teachers say during classroom lectures. This can reduce the language barrier students face and it also creates new learning opportunities for students who require a different level of instruction, ultimately providing a more equitable environment for all students.

Uses of Universal Access in the Education Sector

AI will allow the burden of simple tasks of teachers to be replaced by an AI system. Examples include grading tests and homework taking up too much of a teacher’s time: AI can now intervene and complete these tasks quickly, as well as make suggestions on how to fill learning gaps for students. In addition to already being able to grade multiple-choice tests, AI is getting closer to being able to evaluate written answers to exams and homework. AI replaces administrative work with automation, giving teachers more time to spend with each student. An important part of universal access is to enable all people to understand the material in their own language. For example, it is difficult for native Spanish speakers to learn in a classroom that is entirely in English. AI software also now exists that automatically translates a statement from one language to another. Language translation software is used to mechanically convert a statement from one language to another. Generally, machine translation software can be conceived as working in different stages:

• Speech recognition software that turns human speech into text such as a presentation translator

• Linguistic software examines this text in the source language to determine its syntactic structure

• The result is a semantic representation of the statement that reflects its intention

• A semantic representation of the information content that each output sentence (which will be produced in the target language) should contain is formulated

• The syntactic structure of each sentence is identified (for example, the software plans the verb, subject and object of each sentence). For each sentence, a text string in the written language is generated

A prominent example of translation software is Google’s Google Translate product. A free software that is available online through Google allows translating content from a known language into the language of interest. This can be done by recording processes or by typing the information that one wants to translate into another language.

Certainly, artificially intelligent systems would be of great benefit to everyone. Each student from each country speaks a different language, yet the influence of the mother tongue is also quite strong. It is sometimes difficult for someone from a foreign country to understand the English of an American tutor. Artificial intelligence can assist in overcoming this obstacle by allowing them to modify the same idea. Artificial intelligence can customize lectures according to each person’s specific linguistic needs, for example, their native language, as some people prefer to learn things in their native language.

AI has the potential to greatly benefit students with special needs. Students who must communicate via sign language will benefit from AI systems that are able to interface and recognize sign language. AI can also be used to convert text for sign users into sign language. This presents a huge advantage for deaf sign language users. For a computer to recognize the meaning of a user’s signature and subsequently translate it into text or voice, sign recognition, an AI-based system, aims to automatically convert a human signer’s performance into a computational representation.

These technologies have been studied to meet the need to make communication easier for signers and non-signers. They also give computers an alternative way to receive natural language input. Although specific sign languages have been the focus of some efforts, this technology is easily adaptable to a variety of sign languages due to the statistical nature of most research in this area.

AI will help eliminate the bias of teacher grading, making AI-based universal access more equitable. Students are well aware that teachers may favor certain students in a class or that another teacher is an easier grader than another. AI systems take this human bias out of the equation since it is the AI software-based system that will do the grading. AI-powered universal access can greatly assist in semi-automation marking across all subject areas, especially STEM. For example, instead of assessing hundreds of calculus entries, an AI tool is far more suitable for this job as it groups similar answers so that they all receive the same grade at once. Gradescope, Grade or the Mobius platform are some examples of software created specifically for this purpose.

Task Automation

Teachers’ main job may be to teach, but that is not their only role. Teachers must also spend time on other issues. These include: preparing class lectures, grading tests, managing the classroom during lectures, giving feedback to students, reporting progress to parents and many more. Today, teachers cannot focus on their primary task of teaching but must inherit many other roles to move forward. AI will be able to help teachers automate jobs outside of teaching, allowing teachers to focus on their main goal of teaching class content to students.

How is the extra work of school teachers replaced with the help of AI task automation?

Today teachers face the problem of not having enough time to devote to their students. AI and technology will be able to help solve this problem. Studies indicate that 20 to 40% of teachers’ time on tasks using current technologies will be automated. This equates to about 13 hours per week that are freed up for a given teacher, which teachers can now devote to initiatives that improve student outcomes and teacher satisfaction, instead of time devoted to efforts other than teaching. Research suggests that teachers will spend 20-40% of their time on activities that assist students in learning to use current technology. Getting rid of manual administrative tasks simplifies the routine of teachers and faculty. Personnel no longer need to perform boring duties. AI technologies are performing a variety of tasks, including:

• Removing absence warnings

• Automating delivery of report cards and other information to parents

• Schedule and plan meetings

• Automate student enrollment, routine paperwork, and other processes for the appropriate department

• Cut down on the time spent writing progress reports

• Simplifying any additional record-keeping processes

This may make it easier for professors and instructors to put less emphasis on tedious paperwork and more emphasis on raising educational standards. Bettini et al. have found that, more than 50% of a teacher’s time goes into tasks other than direct interaction with students, which is the most important role of a teacher. In contrast, the teacher’s core function, instruction, is being used for only 32% of the teacher’s time. With the help of AI, a teacher’s free time and the time devoted to working with students can be improved substantially.

Different structures of activities that a teacher should use for their working hours. The future of AI’s potential in the classroom is vast. AI may even be able to completely replace the teacher in some scenarios. AI can already easily monitor and optimize learning. It can be used for common tasks, such as summarizing textbook content to develop useful study guides. AI systems can perform tasks that a teacher’s assistant would normally do such as proctoring exams, helping with homework, and providing constructive criticism on assignments. In essence, AI is poised to become the new teacher’s assistant for each individual student. Thus, the introduction of AI technology systems in the classroom will greatly help all teachers find more free time to allocate to helping their students.

AI is adjusting the role of instructors

AI will bring a paradigm shift in what it means to be a teacher and how the education system works. As mentioned so far, major improvements in teaching strategies are supported by systematic changes in instructional content with AI. It should not be surprising that this new shift of AI integration in classrooms redefines the task of teachers: the creation of a platform that allows sharing of teaching resources, access to MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), and cloud classrooms are all geared towards teaching and learning. It has been found that improvements in AI-based assessment systems and content supplementation relieve teachers of the tedious and cumbersome responsibilities of creating lesson plans and grading assignments and papers. For example, a platform with AI capabilities called Third Space Learning was discovered to reduce the burden on instructors in China. The extra time that teachers had was used to foster positive, strong relationships between teachers and students and advance overall long-term student development. AI-based administrative software can also assist teachers with a variety of challenging tasks, such as budgeting, student enrollment, course management, application management, or data management, which not only improves the effectiveness and efficiency of the educational system but also frees up more time for teachers. Additionally, AI technologies help manage facilities, cut down on operational expenses of institutions, and increase accountability.

24/7 Support

Through the integration of 24/7 support, students no longer have to rely solely on their teacher for help on course material. It arises frequently today that students will have questions on the material, but the instructor is not available to help them because it is out of school hours, or the teacher is not responding to emails. Now, however, thanks to AI, teachers are not the only ones who are subject matter experts. Students can now use AI chatbots whenever they want to seek assistance, even if the teacher is not available. They serve as 24/7 assistants for students, answering their queries whenever they arise.

AI in 24/7 Support for Students

AI can provide information and answers to students 24/7, which is impossible for human teachers. One popular method is chatbots, which allow computer-based information technology systems to communicate with people. Chatbots use text, voice, graphics, or a combination of all of these to mimic dialogue with human users.

Many business and educational websites use the chatbot feature to respond to users in a process that simulates human interaction. Virtual assistants powered by technology are known as chatbots and they are built using AI or pre-written scripts. It works round the clock by providing necessary information and responses. This not only makes it easier for international students or anyone looking for information to get what they need whenever they need it, but it also reduces the workload on admissions staff or other school faculty. Chatbots search a script or database using a keyword or string similarity technique. In short, the chatbot will take input from the user via text or auditory methods and use the database to analyze the user’s request. Finally, the bot will identify the appropriate response through AI-based prediction techniques and give its final answer to the user.

Learning Management System (LMS) is a method that educational institutions can use to manage all the online activities of schools and keep track of the progress of all their students. The LMS system acts as a central system software that is able to manage all the activities of the school. This software is used for a variety of purposes, but they are most often used to achieve the following:

Assign course work to students
Communicate with students and parents
Track student progress
Generate reports on student performance

24/7 Support Case studies of the integration of AI-based technologies have proven the effectiveness of the tools. A recent study was conducted in China on the use of 24/7 assistance AI technology, which used an AI-based app, which is another example of 24/7 assistance for students, allowing teachers to give feedback to students in real-time. A test and control group of 387 undergraduate engineering students reported statistically higher scores in the case where they had a 24/7 assistance app in terms of both learning engagement and willingness to share the learning experience. The difference between the two groups shows that the use of mobile technology and 24/7 assistance AI had a favorable effect on the participants’ commitment to learning. The app also performs administrative tasks, which reduces the burden of teachers and gives them a little ease after work. The AI assistance tool provides students with the material in advance. This technology can be easily applied to the educational curriculum of the United States and we will likely see similar results. Therefore, students can follow everything without having to ask teachers for course material every time. Moreover, through the app students can appear for online auto tests without the presence of a teacher.

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