AI in education: not a threat, but a change agent Premium

AI in Education: Transforming learning with AI, enhancing engagement, supporting teachers, and addressing ethical concerns for future education systems.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a transforming agent in many sectors; education is at the forefront of formerly unheard-of transformation. A couple of days ago, Arizona State University (ASU), President, Michael Crow while talking to the Indian media, shared his views on AI in education. He doesn’t see AI as a disruptive menace.

Mr. Crow said that AI is not a threat, only outdated teaching methods are. This emphasizes that the lack of modernising instructional methods in response to technology development is more of a threat to education not from AI but from itself.

An increasing amount of research literature highlights how AI may support teachers, personalise education, automate administrative chores, and raise student involvement. But concerns remain as to how students who are not really subject matter experts will be able to discern facts amidst tonnes of text generated by machines that are trained for different contexts. In this article, we seek to examine how AI might affect education using current studies showing its great promise.

The capacity of AI to customise learning opportunities for every student makes one of its most important contributions to education. Standardised courses used in conventional education systems might not meet the various demands of the pupils. AI can close this disparity, though, by providing individualized learning paths.

In a research paper published in March 2024, Michail Giannakos (Norway), Mutlu Cukurova (London) et al acknowledge that GenAI’s capabilities can enhance some teaching and learning practices, such as learning design, regulation of learning, automated content, feedback, and assessment. Nevertheless, they also highlight its limitations, potential disruptions, ethical consequences, and potential misuses. The paper also highlighted the danger of hastily adopting GenAI tools in education without deep consideration of the efficacy and pedagogical soundness of such practices.

Education still depends much on engagement, and AI provides tools to make learning more dynamic and immersive. Virtual reality (VR), AI-powered educational games, and Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) can add dynamism to learning environments.

Works by experts including Negin Yazdani Motlagh et al. (2023) have investigated how AI-based text creation tools — ChatGPT, Bing Chat, and Bard — are revolutionising digital education. These solutions let students engage with AI-powered instructors with rapid explanations, course material-based quiz generation, and resource suggestions. Such AI systems generate an active learning environment in which students participate more actively in their educational path.