AI, Blockchain, and Learning Science: Overcoming ‘Learning Debt’ in the 21st Century
By 2030, one billion new students will have entered the education system. At that rate, we will need a new university every 4 weeks to meet demand. As we face the insurmountable task of financing this growth, we inevitably become exposed to “learning debt” or, an underinvestment in education, that becomes increasingly difficult to “pay off.” As the question of how to scale education looms in the distance, three core technologies — AI, blockchain, and learning science — can enable us to tackle this global issue while offering a systematic approach to scaling education for the 21st century.
AI at scale
With the continued use of virtual assistants and the emergence of personalised digital avatars, the arrival of AI at scale will allow more effective, adaptive, and customized learning. In 2017, Georgia Tech was the first to use an AI teaching assistant named Jill Watson to aid in a computer science course. For months, students were unaware of its real identity, Jill answered high volumes of online forum questions that were once impossible to manage — achieving a new milestone for personal student attention at scale.
Variants of this technology have also been popping up; a San Francisco-based initiative called Project PAI uses machine learning, natural language processing, and blockchain to create a personalised digital avatars, or as we see it, an “Eternally Learning assistant” — allowing you to focus more on creative tasks and continuously strive for a better version of yourself. AI will not only allow scaling within schools and institutions but catalyze personalised learning for well-beyond the classroom.
Blockchain
Within the education industry, blockchain will allow us to distribute the load through peer-to-peer interactive learning and create trusted accreditation for online certification. Peer-to-peer project-based learning, in which students ‘learn by doing’ through active collaboration, has been popularized by companies like Lynda.com, which already operates across 194 countries. With blockchain technology, this model can be taken a step further.
Last February, LiveEdu — an online platform that uses peer-to-peer learning for professional development in future technologies — completed the first education token ICO for 10 million USD. Through the introduction of blockchain and cryptocurrencies into their ecosystem, LiveEdu is building a decentralized network and incentive system to create a demand-driven marketplace for their content videos.
In addition to a token-based ecosystem, blockchain offers the solution to preserving and validating online accreditation. As MOOCs and virtual learning platforms become increasingly widespread, so does the question of how to regulate and keep track of certification. With blockchain, completed coursework or skill-based training can be permanently recorded and accessed in a distributed ledger system while decreasing administrative procedures. This will reduce the risk of fraudulent certification, allow the scaling of non-traditional learning platforms, and create an enduring record of trusted validations — accessible publicly even if an institution ceases to exist in the future.
Learning Science
Though the rapid advancement of technologies like AI and blockchain show promising potential, the greatest success will come from first understanding the underlying foundations of learning science. As we learn to ‘learn better’, we open the opportunity to deliver more efficient learning outcomes at scale while integrating a personalised approach.
Just as the technological landscape has evolved, so has the need for new skill sets and research into how best to acquire that knowledge. Currently, four billion people are connected to the internet and two-thirds of the world population own a mobile phone. As digital usage becomes increasingly global, we are no longer confined to the constraints of traditional classrooms, textbooks, or even teacher supply.
By delving deeper into the fundamental principles that improve outcomes in this rapidly changing context and empower learners at an individual level, we can unlock the full degree of human potential. When we set this as our foundation, learning technologies will flourish, learning outcomes will be improved, and scaling challenges will be significantly alleviated.
More than ever, it is apparent that old solutions will no longer work for the obstacles we face today; our current path will only lead to higher, more significant ‘learning debt’. To thrive in this changing landscape, it is crucial that we discover more efficient ways to learn and embrace technologies that can lead us there, both rapidly and realistically. The time to act is now — if not for us, for the future one billion.
