“Will AI replace Teachers?” — Views from Lithuania and Romania

Written by Ms Joana ALEKNAVIČIŪTĖ (Lithuania) and Ms Adina IONESCU (Romania)

This article is part of a series on the topic “Will AI replace Teachers?” written by the participant teachers of the #ASEFClassNet15 Conference, coming from 51 #ASEM countries. Check out the introduction essay here! Find more information about the conference here!

Technology has already made a significant change to the approach on education and a new tipping point will soon be reached again with Artificial Intelligence (AI). While trying to discuss AI and how it will affect teaching, one must take into consideration different types of schools. All education institutions use different approaches to the schooling of their students, but some are extremely different from others. Schools of arts can hardly be compared to adult schools and primary schools have many differences from vocational schools. But one is clear: all schools have the same goal, and it is the growth of students.

With AI, it becomes technically possible to monitor student emotions and attention levels in real-time and this data can be used to help teachers plan different lessons or personalise the learning process for different students. Hence, AI is capable of creating many possibilities to asses and recognise special student learning needs, early stages of dyslexia and other learning difficulties much faster. Moreover, with the help of AI, individual learning plans for very specific student needs become a reality and a great possibility for better individual student results.

The possibilities are very broad and the context is much more complex than it might seem. AI can also rapidly change the economy and job market, creating new requirements for education and educational systems. The changes it will bring to education might be rapid and AI systems can become widely used as systems that support teachers and learners.

For instance, in Romania, the main strategic development needs in the field of AI have been identified as follows:

• development of education and training of specialised skills
• talent management
• research-development-academic and industrial innovation
• consolidation and harmonisation of various efforts in industrial digitisation and in the public administration
• proactive multi-disciplinary, inter-sectoral and transnational collaboration and development of common infrastructures and working formats
• the harmonisation of the technological development with ethical issues, including data protection, privacy, and human rights requirements with those of cybersecurity
• democratisation and facilitation of access to AI services and capabilities and
• building up a digital culture by promoting the domain and raising awareness among the whole Romanian society

The country’s strategy for AI will serve as a reference framework for coordinating the entrepreneurial, academic and public research-development-innovation efforts in the field, and will be established, in time, as a platform for internal and international collaboration that ensures growth and innovation.

So, will AI change the teaching and learning environment? It is an urgent and significant question to be considered. The usual classroom might look the same but we might have fewer students in it, as others attend an online course. Or the classroom might be equipped with many different new gadgets or tools. The globalisation of every school becomes a possibility. Through deep and accessible technology everyone will be able to study subjects or courses where they want. The ability to structure one’s own curriculum, to plan and act to build a personal competence package is greatly beneficial to individual students, but often challenging for schools to help and maintain.

AI might become a competition for a teacher as its tools are capable to put together study content according to student levels, needs and moods. However, human contact and the ability to have a conversation with pupils — this social context that teachers bring to their lessons must not be forgotten. As for now and in the near future — AI is acting as a teacher assistant more than an actual teacher. Collecting data, filling administrative tasks, time management, putting together smart content or helping with tools for higher student engagement are all areas artificial intelligence might help with. A teacher is, nevertheless, still the master of the class planning and communicating with students.

To sum up, AI tools has a great potential to revolutionise the teaching process. However, it is important to understand that with different new technological developments, today privacy and security questions are more significant than ever before. This topic cannot be dismissed, as AI is getting more integrated into everyday school life and real-time monitoring of student movements and emotions are already allowed in some classrooms.

About the authors:

Ms Joana ALEKNAVIČIŪTĖ, Deputy Director, Vilkijos Žemės Ūkio Mokykla, Lithuania

Joana is Deputy Director of a Lithuanian vocational Education Institution. She has a broad experience and knowledge of national and international vocational education systems. Joana completed her studies in educology and education management. Currently managing a team of 40 teachers, she concentrates on diversity, tolerance, knowledge sharing and dialogue in every day teaching practices. She has 5 years project management experience and a good set of skills for effective planning, communication and problem solving. Her education priorities are: open schools, smart, compassionate and emotional students, as well as confident and positive teachers.

Ms Adina IONESCU, Teacher, Rosia — Jiu Technological High School & President of “Youngsters of Europe,” Romania

Adina has been working as a language teacher (English-Romanian) for the past 10 years in vocational and technological highschools. She has recently done a case study research, entitled “Modern Techniques for Teaching Integrated Language Skills”. She has been coordinating an interregional bilingual contest (“Franglais”) since 2014. Adina has also been involved in numerous Erasmus Plus projects. The latest KA2 she attended, focused on “Integration of non-formal education approach to the formal education system for youth empowerment at local level” and was held in Seoul, where she had the chance to teach in a private Korean school. Adina is the President of “Youngsters of Europe”, a youth NGO aiming at exploring youngsters’ potential to create a sustainable social and economic development starting with their communities and making an impact on an international level.

NOTE:
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely by the author(s) and do not represent that of the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF)​.
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