Reunify’s Tech-Know Tuesday: Bill Gates Makes a Change in Education with AI
The major players in the tech industry are working together to advocate for a more advanced tech presence in the K-12 education system. Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg, to name a few, are urging congress to fund K-12 computer science education, believing that there’s a need for a focus on computer science and AI in the classroom.
Tech pioneer Bill Gates is taking it a step further by realizing not only the need for more advanced technology within the classroom setting, but also a change in the teaching system as a whole. In order to become more advanced as a nation, we need to advance not only our tech, but also our brainpower and the way we learn things. Through the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation he has invested more than $240 million, trying to realize this vision of what he calls “personalized learning.” This would mean creating a specialized lesson plan catering to each student, and using the teacher as a one-on-one coach equipped with software that would match the child’s individual pace and level of learning. Gates explains his idea of “personalized learning” as the following:
“In general, the idea is that people progress at a different rate. If you’re ahead of what’s being taught in the class, that’s not good, you get bored. If you’re behind, then they’re using terms and concepts that create a general impression of ‘Hey, I’m not good at this.’ And science and math in particular — if they’re talking about something you haven’t had the explanation on, you just really give up in that area. And there is no way that you are brought back into it.”
Even though there’s no guarantee that this system will be adopted or will work for everyone, Gates is just concerned with testing the product’s efficacy at this point, so that it can be developed and tweaked to perfection. He believes that with the technologically advanced age we live in and the generation of tech-savvy students that exist today, would benefit most from AI tutors, which he thinks are the key to a more constructive learning model.
Reunify’s CTO explains his views on the matter:
“All the major tech players are heading in the same direction, since technology and computer science in education plays an important role in the future of education. They want to use artificial intelligence in every aspect of our lives. Soon sensors will be everywhere from our roads, to when we talk, when we brush our teeth, order food, watch movies, going to the doctor, reading a book, etc…every aspect of our lives will be captured by sensors. So to understand the whole world better there will be a need for better sensors, better analysis and the know-how to apply the information gleaned. The conclusion is 1) computer science should be a part of education and 2) science will play an important role in every aspect of our lives.”
Only time will tell how this plan will progress, but it’s safe to say that a lot will change in the education system with the introduction of this new idea.