Implementation of AI in the Learning Industry
Introduction
I am old enough to remember the apprehension that many executives and professionals in the learning community expressed when distance learning and computer-based training technologies were first introduced. This apprehension was well warranted and the push-back that it generated provided significant and important feedback to learning technology architects and developers. ?The apprehension and push-back resulted in a better outcome for these technologies and for our industry. Today, over 75% of all corporate training and nearly half of all higher education programs are delivered with eLearning and virtual classroom technologies.
Artificial Intelligence Application to eLearning
In a recent white papers, including one titled “The Impact Of Artificial Intelligence On eLearning”, authors have suggested the following areas where Artificial Intelligence (AI) implementations could benefit eLearning development and end-user experiences:
The paper cited above is insightful and well worth reading. As of today, I am significantly more confident in the application of AI to support supervised structured processes (instructional design, test item development, eLearning content generation, etc.) than I am in the ability of the current AI engines to provide direct personalization, adaptive learning enhancements and learner assessments. For reasons further discussed below, in my opinion, AI is not yet mature enough to trust with these types of "direct learner interaction" tasks. As the accuracy of the AI engines improves, so will their value to these applications.
Artificial Intelligence Application in the Classroom
In the Traditional and Virtual Classroom arenas, several white papers and development efforts are exploring the use of AI to enhance and support these learning environments. Some of the areas where AI is being promoted include:
Certainly some of the concepts listed above will perform better than others. AI is not a mature technology. It will get better over time. In the near-term, AI is a bit risky for use in virtual classroom chat rooms. AI responses provided directly to learners could easily do more harm than good.
AI engines can chug out the bulk of information needed to create a presentation or PowerPoint deck. In most cases, the vendors promoting these AI capabilities do not appear to have an instructional design and development background. Without a solid instructional foundation, the time savings associated with these types of tools will be marginal as the clean up and reorganization of the material generated will be time consuming.
The concept of AI assisting the instructor during a presentation has significant merit. An instructor, competent in the subject matter, could easily benefit from having access to AI generated responses to learner questions. The instructor becomes the cross-check on the AI output before the learner is provided with a response that may be inaccurate. It remains to be seen if AI can play a significant role in the analysis of learner engagement and performance metrics.
Analysis and Conclusion
For many in our industry, the thought of AI augmenting areas such as learner support, content creation and performance analysis has caused concerns, including:
Today, AI responses can be really good and they can also be really bad. Most AI responses are reasonable, but certainly not at the level that would be needed to replace a subject matter expert in a learning development, teacher assistant or instructional delivery role. I would much prefer accessing an AI engine that checks its facts before providing a response. It would be better if AI engines simply responded with “I don’t know” to questions or tasks where the AI engine is unable to provide reasonable response.
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As stated above, use of AI in a direct learner dialog environment is risky. I can just imagine the screen shots that learners will generate and post on social media from AI dialog interfaces during virtual classroom sessions or during the completion of eLearning lessons. I'm sure some will be hilarious, but not for the institution or corporation responsible for the education and training delivery.
Most AI engines will rate the reliability of any response provided. The problem here is that an unreliable response provided directly to a learner, in most cases, is worse than no response at all. At least in the near-term, it would be better if all AI generated responses provided accessible references to the source(s) of information that served as the basis of the response.
Proponents of AI technology insist that AI is capable of “creativity” that could be beneficial in education and/or training environments. My experience to date shows that this is not the case.?Random responses are not the same as creativity. Personally, I would prefer that the output of AI engines be reasonably accurate, sourced and consistent.?
About KMSI
For over 20 years, KMSI has been a leading innovator and provider of technologies for use in training and education. Our contributions and achievements include:
KMSI AI Implementation Innovations
Our latest innovations leverage new Artificial Intelligence (AI) engines to expedite tedious processes, provide instructor support and automate generation of training and education lessons and supporting interactive media elements. We have incorporated these new technologies into Version 16 of our flagship KMx Enterprise Learning Platform.?KMx Enterprise Version 16 provides:
A Special Offer from KMSI
For a limited time, KMSI is offering a FREE Artificial Intelligence Upgrade (a savings of $20,000/year) to all new KMx Enterprise clients. As always, our current KMx Enterprise customers with at least 12 months remaining on their license agreement will receive this new update at no additional cost. KMSI will also include a FREE KMxLive Virtual Training Room with all new and extended license agreements with a term of 36 months or longer.
During this promotion, KMxASP and KMxSaaS customers can upgrade to KMx Enterprise with no implementation or migration fees, receive free upgrade training and get a refund for the unused portion of their existing hosting services agreement.
If you are not familiar with KMx Enterprise, I suggest you consider comparing the capabilities of your current learning and talent management technologies to what you could be achieving with KMx.?According to Technology Evaluation Centers, KMx outperforms the average LMS solution 100% of the time.
For new customers, KMSI will transition your existing Learning Management System to KMx Enterprise for a flat, one-time fee of $20,000. KMx Enterprise provides support for unlimited users with no per-user fees. For any organization with more than 5,000 users, KMx is almost certainly less than half the cost of your existing technology.?
Here are a few links to help facilitate your research of our offerings:
Many of our existing customers have purchased KMx without the need to conduct a time-consuming and expensive procurement process. Share our pricing with your purchasing department and see if your organization’s purchasing policies provide for Small Purchase or Sole-Source Procurement options.?
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