Artificial intelligence (AI) “is the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs. It is related to the similar task of using computers to understand human intelligence, but AI does not have to confine itself to biologically observable methods.” (John McCarthy, 2004). In a fast-paced and ever-changing world, the creation and adoption of AI to help humans with tasks is essential. AI technology is now widely used in a wide range of industries, government, and of course science. Some prominent areas where we see the adoption of AI include:
- In web search engines like Google search.
- Recommendation systems used by YouTube, Amazon, Netflix, etc.
- Interactions with humans and understanding human speech like Siri and Alexa.
- Creation of self-driving cars
- Creative tools like ChatGPT and AI art.
In essence, artificial intelligence adopts the knowledge of computer science with the help of a vast database to solve difficult problems in a way that a human would or even better than that. Additionally, the artificial intelligence field includes the knowledge and principles of other fields like machine learning and deep learning. There are various possibilities to explore and as professionals probe further, there will be newer discoveries and improvements in the technology. As stated earlier, there are various areas the use of AI can improve and education is not left out. The release of Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT) so far has proved helpful not only to companies business owners and workers but also to students and teachers. In this article, we’ll explore the benefits of artificial intelligence in education. However, do not forget to subscribe to our newsletter for more updates.
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Artificial Intelligence in Education
In November 2022, OpenAI’s artificial intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT was released for public use. The application surpassed one million users in less than a week. Afterward, in January 2023, New York City Public Schools banned the use of ChtaGPT in schools. According to Jenna Lyle, the deputy press secretary of the NYC Department of Education, the application was banned due to concerns over cheating and the inability of students to build critical thinking and problem-solving skills by themselves. However, further studies and opinions have shown how AI can be used in education and to facilitate the learning processes. Some of the areas AI can be adopted to enhance education include:
- Academic research
- Creation of games and teaching tools useful for early childhood education
- Provide tutoring services to students who are currently lagging in class and find it difficult to understand
- Detection of plagiarized content in essays, assignments, and research papers.
- Additionally, artificial intelligence also helps in translation and language learning.
- When properly optimized artificial intelligence can also help improve writing skills.
The benefits of using AI in education
Some of the benefits of adopting AI in the educational sector include:
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1. Improved Interaction
The development and adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) enables and improves interaction for the student and the teacher in a learning setting. Students can speak, write, sketch, or adopt other means of human communication whilst relating with AI and it also generates human-like responses. It might be a little bit difficult for a layman to detect that the response isn’t from a human but rather, a machine. This improved means of communication paves the way for more possibilities. Students can ask questions without needing to have a certain form of expertise in language and they receive a well-tailored response to their question.
2. Creation of a Feedback System
Additionally, the vast access to information at the disposal of artificial intelligence creates the opportunity for it to give effective feedback both to students and teachers. For instance, a student can receive feedback on an assignment and look for ways to improve upon it before even submitting it. Additionally, teachers can also use artificial intelligence to access feedback on their teaching methods and techniques and then provide areas where they can improve to be more effective and efficient.
3. Helps students with learning disabilities
Students who have learning disabilities can also adopt artificial intelligence to improve their learning processes. Interactive systems like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistance can help students become independent when it comes to learning. Additionally, the development of AI-powered braille tutor applications can help address the needs of students with visual impairment. These applications can convert physical braille characters into digital text via optical character recognition (OCR).
4. Global Access to Quality Education
Furthermore, the advent of AI has further enhanced global access to quality education. With a smartphone and internet connection, you can access resources, tools, and information to keep you informed and educated. The answer ChatGPT would give a student in advanced countries is still the same answer it’ll give students who are from underdeveloped countries. There is no barrier to the access to quality information needed to thrive as a student.
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5. Facilitates personalization of learning processes
AI enhances learning processes in students by creating personalized learning processes to meet their needs. A teacher or a lecturer may not know how to meet the needs of every student, especially in instances where there is a large population of students with just one teacher, it might be difficult for the teacher to meet the needs of all the students. However, when the student creatively employs AI in their academics, it benefits them immensely.
6. Improves writing and research
Additionally, AI helps students improve their writing skills. It also helps simplify some of the research process through the provision of resources that will be beneficial to students. Rather than spend hours in a library open page after page, looking for information. Adopting tools like ChatGPT, Google Scholar, and other artificial intelligence applications can make the research process a whole lot easier.
7. Time management
Finally, artificial intelligence helps with time management in the sense that it cuts down on the time students would spend doing an assignment or searching for resources in a physical library for a project. With typing and a few clicks, students and even teachers would have access to a more relatable and effective solution to educational problems.
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