The Covid-19 Pandemic and E Learning | The role of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been in the process of taking over the world for quite some time. As much as that statement is a statement from a scifi movie script, in 2021 some people deem it to be true. In plain definition, according to Investopedia, AI which is the shortened acronym of Artificial Intelligence is commonly referred to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like human beings and mimic their actions. Furthermore AI is also known in the dimensions of machines that exhibit traits associated or parallel to the human mind like learning and problem solving. In the ideal scenario, an ideal characteristic of AI would be its ability to rationalize and take actions that would result in the best probable chances of achieving a certain goal or task. You can read about more technical AI technologies on our main blog page. Basically the above explanation would open your mind to what AI means from a technical perspective, and even though it sounds quite serious, in 2021 we are experiencing different modes of AI most of the time. According to Lu et al. (2018), the majority of silicon valley tech companies like Amazon, Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Hulu, Netflix and many others have implemented AI in several systems. As such coming back to the education industry, we do have AI powered learning management systems within universities in the US and many more basic applications of AI. Even Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and many products under them, always talks about how AI should be in the line of education. He believes that AI will be able to improve human Learning in various ways. Hence, it is definitely a matter of time till AI will take over the education platform in the world but the current pandemic for certain is speeding up that process.?
As such in laying the background for this article we must understand the current pandemic era we are living in. The Covid-19 Pandemic has taken over the world and everyone has been rendered helpless. This deadly respiratory virus has conquered each corner of the earth and now people have been relying on vaccines to protect themselves. However, this article is not about the pandemic, but about how the pandemic has given a chance for AI to take over industries, especially the education industry. Well how is the education industry fairing? Today with the increasing lockdowns posted for long periods and schools being very vulnerable to the virus as it's crowded with children, mainline academics and school classes are held online. The importance of AI has been largely spoken about when it comes to the education industry as AI can do a lot in the platforms of online learning and learning management systems. But how did this all come by? Was artificial Intelligence readily available in the market or let alone the education industry? Well, the rise of AI and related technologies didn't just appear in the education industry. There was a fully fledged phase of digitization or digitalization that started to appear after the year 2010 in the world in many industries. Hence let's look at this concept before moving on to the next.
What is digitalization or digitization?
The relationship education had with digitalization was not completely straightforward as we would assume as it had come by in other industries. The education industry mostly dealt with reading and writing and learning through using resources like paper, stationery and books etc. It was not a complicated process, even though what we learn and educate ourselves would be dependent and complicated on the curriculum. Thus Digitalization started with making paper a soft element, students were able to view their material online or have them as soft copies, and so on the many of the resources that were used started to be digitized. The mobile phone would allow for writing and typing, laptops would allow for typing articles and keeping notes etc. Hence technology and digitalization slowly creeped through. Moreover, it was also transforming work, meaning it was changing what was needed from education. As the years went by, technology started to become highly dependent on automation and today people don't even check their spelling or grammar because it is “auto corrected” And any repetitive work is left for technology through automation to do.?
On the other hand, over the years, digitalization has started to impact the role of the teacher as well. For example, today digital skills are becoming an integral requirement of the teacher’s job and some say is mandatory in becoming a fully fledged teacher. However it is suffice to say that Digitalization has not completely taken over the question of “what the teacher teaches”. Or in this case the brains of the education industry. The knowledge base, the experience and the different methods a teacher adapts and makes a student learn is still not in the realm of Digitization. This was true until the pandemic hit.?
To summarize, digitalization was already in the process of transforming education in terms of academic resources and tools until the pandemic arrived. Now the world is looking into replacing the knowledge base, the adaptive behaviors and the role of a teacher with Artificial Intelligence. So is Artificial Intelligence the future of E Learning? Let’s find out.
Adaptive intelligent and non-intelligent digital technologies
Due to the ongoing pandemic, we have shifted to online learning methodologies with online meetings and technologies like Zoom, Google Meet and many more virtual room software's. Alongside these technologies we also have started using Digital materials to present our curriculums and class studies. However, in reality the pandemic hit us so hard so fast, hence, teachers and lecturers were not prepared fully to support their students through online means of learning. This is because distance learning does not always allow teachers to make adjustments and support students, as they would do in the classroom. The impending result of this is that either the digital material presented to the students is easier than expected or they are tougher and more complex to comprehend, leading to students not engaging in the learning outcomes and there being an overall reduction in learning from the student. Which also leads to syllabuses not being completed etc. However in 2021, adaptive intelligent learning technologies may help to overcome these problems.
What are adaptive intelligent learning technologies?
According to UNESCO (2020), This type of technology uses algorithms to adapt digital learning materials to students’ needs by monitoring students’ performance, estimating their skills, tracking their progress and predicting their development. This enables students to learn at their own pace and reduces the need for constant teachers’ supervision, feedback or adjustments to the materials. The adaptive or intelligent part explained above is the artificial intelligence component. This technology is also available and needs to be installed or acquired by educational institutions and platforms in order to be used. However, if this technology is not attainable there are many non-intelligent digital learning technologies available.?
What are non-intelligent learning technologies?
Non-intelligent learning technologies are designed to be used as supplements to lecturers or teachers. They work in accordance with the teachers instructions. Unlike adapting technologies they do not make intelligent adjustments, but they often provide students with direct feedback and teachers with dashboards to follow students’ progress. UNESCO (2020)?
Thus, taking all this information into account, Is Artificial intelligence in the process of revolutionizing E Learning in this pandemic era? Looking at the recent trends in society with the covid-19 pandemic, it is clear that a bigger transformation is on its way to the world. Taking the education industry into account, the transformation is already under way. According most articles, scholars and research conducted on this topic, due to the unavoidable circumstances the pandemic presents, for example, not being able to go out, go to school or constantly having to do classes online and even having to work from home will force the current population to take extreme measures to keep the education system and sub platform running. As such in the larger scheme of things, the pandemic and this force of hand may in fact push technology to create a huge disruption in the education industry in the time to come.?
Thus, in the time to come, you will see several AI technologies that fall under the two branches discussed above in the open market. In accordance with the World Economic Forum topic on AI, the education system may lead to a hyper individualized platform. A hyper Individualized platform is a setup where education is translated into each individual separately. There will not be group settings or group learnings and in practice? “hyper-individualizing education translates into a human-to-AI interface that monitors the student and learns about them until it knows what the student is proficient in and what they still need to learn. Based on this, the AI teacher bot will determine what the student needs to learn. It feeds the student information in a bite-size format based on what it knows about the most optimal times and ways to learn different kinds of information to each individual, personally.” Economic Forum (2021) This is where the current context in society is heading towards, we can already see these changes in universities internationally, in a more analog situation. Many teachers and lecturers are taking up individual lessons online with their students in order to be more effective as maintaining groups and group sessions presents a rather tough challenge. Combating technology items of data issues and internet connection shortages is becoming more and more of an issue which has led to this mode of learning today in this pandemic era.?
As such, there is a positive trend towards AI taking over the education industry from the events that are taking place today because of the covid-19 pandemic. However, if this trend continues and AI does play a huge role in the industry, what would the future of the education industry look like?
The future of the education industry
As Artificial Intelligence is already showing signs of development in the world with rule based and machine learning AI models being readily available, the real potential of AI will become more clear when current technologies existent in the market start developing to work parallelly with AI. Let’s take the education industry as an example. In the future when hyper individualizing education or adapting AI technology becomes prominent, we may be able to see current technologies like augmented reality, or Virtual Reality holding hands with AI. There can be cool products like smart learning glasses with the AI model inbuilt in a virtual reality session. Or Even it can be these technologies directed towards the teacher that will enable the teacher to see all the analytics and metrics when it comes to the student easily through Artificial Intelligence. Either Way, if the current situation in the world persists, then we should be able to see these predictions come to life. In today's pandemic times however, AI has already started its journey and we all can attest to that.
Conclusion
Education is the forefront of a successful generation, the whole world as we know it, the future technologies and innovations solely depend on the education and knowledge base of our younger generations. However the current Covid-19 pandemic is not helping this endeavor and as you have understood through this article, Artificial intelligence is slowly creeping up the technology chain in order to make this knowledge base and generation possible in the near future. We have already seen signs of this with new learning management systems backed by AI and online learning and teaching platforms opening up worldwide. We at EarlTech believe that it is In fact only a matter of time until we see these things on our daily routine start to become automated and AI related, but regardless of any outcome it is clear that the education system will have a solid boost from Artificial Intelligence in time to come. If you enjoyed this article you can read similar articles online on our website www.earltech.com or on our blog page on LinkedIn. Do not forget to read our other blogs about artificial intelligence and Websites etc., to learn more about the concept. Catch you in the next one.