While kids explore new and innovative gadgets, the tech industry is also busy creating ways of learning that could change the meaning of education

We live in a world surrounded by textbooks, notes and a bunch of examination papers since the word “education” came into being. But looking at the booming technology industry, where smart phones and robots are taking over major chores of our lives, the future of education is not in these textbooks or same old exam papers.

Kids today are farthest away from playing with traditional toys, learning from the abacus and coloring books. They are indulged in the gloomy world of smartphones, tablets and laptop screens. Whether it is good or not, it’s a different debate. Right now, while these kids are busy luring their interests in exploring new and innovative gadgets, the tech industry is also busy in creating ways of learning that could change the meaning of learning and education for them.

Also read: Blockchain tech will disrupt education in more ways than we expect

Edtech industry in a glimpse

If we look at the education technology (edtech), we can see that a large sum of money has been invested over the years to improve the education of the upcoming generation. UKTN has reported that the EdTech market will grow 17% per annum to US$252 billion by 2020.

But the real question is, how is this money actually helping the kids? Is it working? Over the past years, artificial intelligence (AI) is spreading throughout. We have seen it revolutionising the healthcare industry and also saw it making waves in cybersecurity as well.

On the other hand, e-learning platforms are increasing day by day to improve the course of education and to help build interest in children through online platforms. A professor at Georgia Tech, Ashok Goel, says that he had over 400 students enrolled in his online course and during the course they had over thousands of questions which became almost impossible to handle for him and his staff.

“We were going nuts trying to answer all these questions,” he says.

In addition to that, he felt that students were losing interest in the course. To solve this problem, Goel, an expert in artificial intelligence himself, devised an artificially intelligent teaching assistant – who could interact with the student and help them through the course with interesting and creative questions. He thought this could be the future of education.

How exactly can AI help?

The most common issue a teacher faces while teaching their students is the pace at which each student studies and learns. Some are quite intelligent for their age, but some, on the other hand, are not quite up to the mark which is why they sometimes lack the attention they need.

This is where AI steps in. Just as SIRI takes your words out of your mouth, the AI assistants creatively interact with students and predict their pace of learning just by their answers to questions and intelligently helps them through the course in a pace easy for them to understand.

Another way these AI assistants are playing an important role in test preparations is the human touch. Parents are looking for ways teachers can dedicatedly give time to teach their children, but teachers fail to do so. An AI assistant can help students practice for these tests in a way any teacher would do.

With the course of time, these AI-based technologies will get better at teaching and preparing students for these tests. This is where big data from preparation program comes in. The more data there is, the more intelligent these AI assistants become as they can predict and interact with the students accordingly.

In addition to teaching at a pace, the assistants can also tell the students where they need to improve. When it comes to standardised teaching patterns, teachers can only do so much as to create a lecture fit for an average student to understand. Using AI solves this problem as well. It can point out where the student is weak and accordingly create an improvement strategy. With this, students’ interest in their course remains intact and improves their learning patterns with time. What can be better than a personal teacher?

EdTech Magazine says that recent research predicts that the use of AI in the education sector will grow 47.5 percent through 2021. “With some simple input, AI mechanisms can assemble all sorts of narratives for students — about their future, job applications, and ways to make an impact down the road — to inform pursuits now that will lead to desired results,” says Ralph Lucci, co-founder of Behavior Design, in the article.

Also read: Edtech has a culture problem: It requires localisation, personalisation, and understanding

What is the future of AI?

As much as we see in movies and games, there is technology everywhere — be it robots taking over our houses and helping with our daily chores, or an assistant getting us through dangerous missions & conquering the alien revolution. The future of the upcoming generations is indulged in innovation and creativity with smart gadgets.

Gartner Says AI Technologies Will Be in Almost Every New Software Product by 2020 Market hype and growing interest in artificial intelligence (AI) are pushing established software vendors to introduce AI into their product strategy, creating considerable confusion in the process, according to Gartner, Inc.
Analysts predict that by 2020, AI technologies will be virtually pervasive in almost every new software product and service.

In addition to solving education problems for students, AI will soon automate our entire lives. Songergaard stated that by 2020 AI will automate 1.8 million people out of work, but it will create 2.3 million jobs. So, AI will drive a net gain of 500,000 new jobs.

The world is progressing by creating robots like Sophia and research shows that a few years from now, technology will take over our lives completely. AI is doing wonders around the world with robotics and other innovations. It may prove to be the next big thing for education and many other aspects of our lives.

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