While Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been gaining ground in our vocabulary and understanding – it is in everything from our recommendations on Amazon, to what is best viewing on Netflix, as yet it is at the doors of education. An article in Forbes magazine claims that “A few decades from now we may look back on this period as the final years of the pedagogical dark ages”, with few changes to classrooms since the Victorian era. More recently the usage of flipped classes and online education is coming of age. Donald Clark, author of Artificial Intelligence for Learning, asserts that “AI can result in accelerating and reducing the cost of learning–even basic skills such as reading, writing and arithmetic–on a global scale”. Clark goes on to say that software bots will soon cover more education-related activities, including student recruitment, onboarding, reminding and encouraging them to send coursework, assessing some of it etc. But perhaps the greatest benefit from AI in education is personalisation. All of this will make “education more natural, as well as more effective and more fun”. Here’s looking forward to easier, cheaper, more effective learning.
