How AI Democratizes Education: Being Equal Before the School

Much is heard about making the learning process more personalized with the help of all recent technological developments. Artificial Intelligence is seen as one of the most promising means to enhance, or even revolutionize education. The Artificial Intelligence Market in the US Education Sector report, for example, expects AI in the US education to grow by 47.5% from 2017–2021.

Sure enough, personalization might be the Holy Grail of educators, but it remains only one side and one aspect of the educational process. Let’s look at the new AI-driven education from the perspective of democratization of the learning process.

AI indeed opens vast opportunities for more and diverse students to obtain better education.

Global access for all students

Education has no limits, and AI can help to eliminate boundaries by facilitating the learning of any course from anywhere across the globe and at any time. Using AI systems, software, and support can help make global classrooms available to all including those who speak different languages, cannot attend school due to illness or who require learning at a different level. In this way, AI can help break down silos between schools and between traditional grade levels.

Facilitating vernacular learning

Somewhat related to the previous aspect, vernacular learning means learning in the native language beyond the elementary and secondary level. It includes teaching those from vernacular mediums to cope with learning in the English medium of instruction. In this case, real-time translation can ensure that the medium is democratized enough to incorporate maximum students. AI-based translation will also significantly reduce the cost of content production.

Candidate application management

Data gathering powered by AI can change how schools find, teach, and support students. Intelligent computer systems can match students’ needs and potential with colleges and courses better at every from recruiting to helping students choose the best courses. In several years, we may end up with recommender systems to choose the best schools and programs for student interests.

Automated grading

On the one hand, grading homework and tests for large lecture courses can be tedious work for teachers. Yet on the other hand, it is easy to develop a certain bias, especially while teaching the same class or the same students for a long period of time. Going beyond simple multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank testing, AI might offer essay-grading solutions that make the students’ results more independent of the teacher’s individual preferences and allow teachers to focus more on in-class activities and student interaction.

Adaptive Tests

Exams are an important part of the learning process that provides students with an honest assessment of their progress. AI can make them more effective calibrating the questions for tests and exams whose difficulty gets updated as a student progresses and challenges him to prepare thoroughly, or in response to the student’s way of learning.

Relaxed atmosphere

As a result, AI can make trial-and-error learning process less intimidating. Trial and error is an inevitable part of learning, but for many students, the fear of failing is paralyzing. Artificial intelligence could offer students a way to experiment and learn in a less intimidating and relatively judgment-free environment, especially when AI tutors can immediately come up with ways for improvement. Besides, AI themselves learn by constant adapting through trial and error, so it might be easier for students to relate to them knowing that they are not immaculate.

Adaptive learning

Yes, we cannot forget about the leaning process tailored to the student’s needs. Despite all the efforts to provide each person with education, there still exists an image of an ideal student. In reality, though, different students learn in different ways: by watching movies or by listening to the lector, by making notes or by moving across the classroom, not to mention learners with special needs. AI opens new opportunities for the groups of students who might be considered as “difficult” by educators, making them feel more welcome in the world of school. Intelligent systems can respond to the needs of the student, putting greater emphasis on certain topics, repeating things that students haven’t mastered, and generally helping students to work at their own pace, whatever that may be.

Teaching IT skills

As we discussed in our blog post on the future of education, the WEF Future of Jobs Report 2018 predicts massive transformations of global labor markets due to the rapid technological advancements. AI-powered education can equip students with fundamental IT skills that will make them ready to enter the adult life.

In other words, Artificial Intelligence is the way we truly make education accessible to everyone regardless of their geographical location, the language they speak or their learning needs and idiosyncrasies. And this may finally shift education from being elitist in its nature to meritocratic.