Machine learning and big data will change teaching pedagogy

The truth is that we are influenced by the realm of technology impacting our professional and personal lives.  In a fast paced age of business, most client centric businesses are stretching their technology bandwidth to yield higher return on investment. Adding new skills which are relevant to technology breakthroughs, machine learning and big data will help professionals and organizations alike. New technologies are opening new avenues for students to grasp concepts through machine learning and big data.

 By 2020, 85% of customer interactions will be managed without a human. (Source: Gartner). 80% of executives believe artificial intelligence improves worker performance and creates jobs. (Source: Narrative Science). Gartner and IDC sources estimate the number of connected devices will rise from 10.3 Billion in 2014 to a likely high of 29.5 Billion in 2020. Similarly, the value of the connected devices, will rise from 655.8 Billion USD to an estimated 1.7 Trillion USD.

This lucidly puts in perspective the phenomenon of ‘Internet Of Things’ or IOT. IOT encompasses a number of disciplines that include embedded computing, middleware, big data, cloud, domain knowledge and business consulting. IOT is the trigger for the expansion of Artificial Intelligence or AI, and Machine Learning or ML .In this column, I would be focusing more on ML.

Machines, since the steam engine days, have in some ways reduced human misery and effort, while replacing tasks, jobs and roles. The assembly line ensured safer and better jobs for workers, while also increasing productivity. The underlying thought has been to deploy the human capital on more thinking and cognitive challenges, than waste them on repetitive, mundane and sometimes risky tasks. The advent of mainframe computers - followed by PC’s, which in turn has been followed by hand, held devices- have all followed the above trend.

The key differences between today’s ML environment and that of other technological advances are two fold;

a.      The need for extensive entry of data(inputs) by human beings has and will reduce. This has been made possible by imaging, sensors and mobile connectivity. Embedding a chip on machines enable them to work, ‘talk ‘ to other machines, while generating valuable information .

b.     The penetration of the hand phone has assumed critical mass and have also got smarter.

Due to the above, mobile phones can increasingly be connected to other objects/machines/systems etc, providing real time information to the consumer /decision maker.

As more devices evolve into the eco system of IOT, the embedded chips in each of them can ’talk to another’ chip on another object. This sets the stage for the machine to ‘ learn on its own.’ The machine is able to track the trends or changes in the information that it is receiving real time, comparing  with past information. This enables the machine or device to provide more accurate output to the receiver human, who would use the output from such intelligent devices.

While ML would replace many roles/jobs- currently structured in a particular way- it will also trigger the creation and need for many other newer jobs and roles. Finally, it is the human being who is behind the architecture of IOT, AI and ML. 

AI and ML are  merely tools to enhance HR's capabilities, make it more analytical, create strategic roles, and take unbiased, logical decisions. HR professionals too have realized the need for integration of technology with HR if they want to go beyond their traditional responsibilities and play a more proactive role in their organization.

One of India's leading private bank, has deployed 200 software robots across 200 business processes to perform a fifth of internal jobs and a million transactions every day. The results of the same are  reduction in the response time to customers by up to 60% and increased accuracy to 100%. It has also enabled the bank's employees to focus more on value-added and customer-related functions.

ML will also  allow HR to provide 1:1 and intelligent experience at every step of the employee's journey in the organization. It will give them in-depth insights into employee expectations and also make real-time recommendations on employee training needs.

On the education front, the future will see teachers using big data  to collate and assess large volumes of unstructured data to adopt specific teaching strategies.

 Technology has come up as a savior for students and professionals that will help in putting greater emphasis on certain topics by focusing on individualized learning and responding to the needs of the students. The emphasis will be laid on making sure that concepts are understood on a deeper level, by each and every student. It will increase inter-connectedness among classrooms far and wide across the globe and make learning a part of life outside class.

 With the relentless speed of disruption in technology, there is constantly a demand to innovate. There are certain skills that robots can’t replicate such as creativity, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, adaptability and collaboration. And so, educational institutions need to take up this role of imbibing these skills in students. Educational institutes must train the leader of the future to deeply cultivate and exploit creativity, learn collaborative activity, complex communication and the ability to thrive in diverse environments.