AI education in a remote world: What’s different?
— Roozbeh Aliabadi
The global pandemic has resulted in one positive thing: a much greater appreciation for teachers and school.
Since March 2020 at ReadyAI, we have witnessed parents struggling to work with their children at home due to school closures; recognizing the essential caretaking function schools play in our society has skyrocketed.
As young learners struggle to learn from home, parents’ gratitude for teachers, their skills, and their invaluable role in student well-being has risen significantly.
Living Under COVID-19 lockdown has drastically changed our routine at ReadyAI. We have been rethinking how we can bring Artificial Education to children, while many students in the US and elsewhere found their schools and classrooms off-limits. (Teaching Artificial Intelligence During COVID-19 Lockdown)
We have partnered up with the growing community of Outschool to bring AI Educations to hundreds of children, through our classes, working with employers, and civic organizations.
Public schools are a great equalizing force in our lives, but the shift to online learning means existing inequalities matter. Millions of children lack reliable Internet access. So we have decided to make the 5 Big Ideas in AI also available in a book series, to make AI learning available offline.
This has been a challenging year for all of us. Still, I’m most grateful to our teachers around the world, the fantastic team at ReadyAI in continually pushing the boundaries of new learning and making an impact in our local communities, exceptional students like Ella (the winner of funniest Robot Competition) or Lily (with her unique AI project through ReadyAI Virtual Classes).
I believe that children worldwide must have the right to be AI-educated to thrive intellectually and emotionally alongside AI. Investing in every child can transform them from a passive spectator of technology, disruption to active participants of positive change in their local communities, and the world.
