Revolutionising the education ecosystem with artificial intelligence

Last year, as the Covid-19 virus engulfed the world in a critical pandemic, 1.5 billion students were impacted due to the closure of schools in 190 countries across the globe, according to UNESCO. While the initial shocks jolted our education sector, schools and teachers rapidly adapted their lessons for a virtual setting. This transition wasn’t without issues – from technological challenges to concerns about the quality of education being imparted. The students were, perhaps, the most impacted by this sudden shift.

The pandemic broke our long-accepted beliefs that a good education can only happen in a physical classroom, with a teacher imparting lessons to all students. It underscored the importance of a new approach to learning. While virtual lessons were a crucial stop-gap solution, we need to recognise that this crisis has presented us with an opportunity to change the way we educate our children – that we can herald a new future of education with the help of innovative technologies like artificial intelligence (AI). With new technologies available, teaching can be done in a different, even more effective way. Every student has unique abilities, learning styles and ways of thinking. Our role as educators should be to nurture them and harness their skills, knowledge and imagination.

In the traditional education system, it is difficult for a teacher to detect knowledge gaps of every individual student and to formulate a specialised intervention for them. Furthermore, in such a system, measuring the hidden cognitive ability of students and helping them achieve mastery of their subject matter is almost impossible. However, with digital education platforms, learning experiences can now be personalised using AI to adjust the content and instructions based on students’ individual learning capacities and performance. In our experience, connecting students’ previous knowledge, experiences, and abilities with learning materials has made the learning process engaging, faster and
more effective.

AI-powered and data-driven education technology solutions can deliver personalised learning to students, cultivating a sense of ownership amongst students over their learning while motivating them to connect with relevant, engaging, actionable and memorable learning materials. With AI-powered personalised learning, students can retain information for a much more extended period as the learning process is aligned to their specific levels and needs.

With the help of personalised learning platforms, students can achieve better learning outcomes. We can create a generation of individuals equipped with the right skills that will enable them to become productive members of society. At the end of the day, education is not just about imparting knowledge. As educators, we need to contribute to the growth of individuals to ensure that they are fully equipped to lead in a digitally enabled future.

Geoffrey Alphonso is the CEO at Alef Education

Read: New realities in the virtual world