Educators have long recognised the potential of digitising the education sector. Various solutions have been deployed over the years with varying degrees of success. But now, widespread access to advanced technologies is set to bring about a tech revolution to classrooms worldwide.
Artificial intelligence (AI), in particular, will have a massive impact on education delivery. The education system generates vast amounts of data, which only AI can effectively process and analyse. Insights drawn enable education providers to make data-driven decisions to improve education outcomes.
Personalised learning
AI will enable personalised learning, a teaching model that considers each student’s learning needs, abilities and interests to drive academic achievement and personal growth. Recognising that each student absorbs knowledge at their own pace, this model enables teachers to identify an individual learner journey and then provide specific content that suits them.
Supported by AI, machines can help educators and parents drive the right targeted intervention strategies for students based on real-time data collated through digital platforms. This can be done by assessing and understanding the students’ weak points, what they are struggling with, and what kind of skills they are missing. As a result, teachers, parents, and learners will have the right tools to support developing their full potential and achieve better results.
Additionally, access to an instructor beyond office hours and over the weekend is often limited. AI-powered chatbots can access vast knowledge databases in the school and beyond and respond to various questions from students any time of the day.
In parallel, students today are largely tech-savvy with access to an array of personal devices. By leveraging smartphones or tablets, schools can expand content delivery options to include videos, audio and interactive games, catering to individual preferences. That said, personalised does not mean isolated; in fact, technology enables far greater collaboration opportunities with peers at a local, national, or global scale. Moreover, with the help of advanced digital systems, such as AI-based translation, students with diverse backgrounds can effectively participate in class while improving their language skills.
For teachers, automating mundane tasks such as administrative work or grading papers through AI leaves more time for student engagement. According to a McKinsey survey, between 20 and 40 per cent of current teacher hours are spent on activities that could be automated using existing intensified.
Blended education
AI will not and should not replace teachers. The ideal outcome should be a hybrid of physical and online learning. Known as blended learning, this model combines the best of two worlds—traditional face-to-face classroom training and high-tech e-learning.
Blended learning is also associated with the “flipped classroom” model. In this emerging trend, students learn theory at home remotely and then practice what they learned during classroom sessions with instructors present to assist. Flipped learning puts students at the center of the education system, where they guide the pace and style of learning while instructors play a supporting, but no less critical, role.
Blended learning also caters to broader digital transformation trends that are underway in the region. Countries in the Middle East have put digitisation at the heart of social-economic transformation goals to inspire change and deliver economic growth.
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The tools to deliver this tech-driven future are now available regionally through EdTech providers such as Alef Education, a leading global education technology provider. Through Alef Platform, its AI-powered digital learning platform, the company delivers personalised learning experiences to support students with an array of AI tools.
Technology in education makes education accessible anytime and anywhere, customised for each student to learn at their own pace. Additionally, students in isolated communities can access high-quality education at the relatively lower cost of a laptop or smartphone and an internet connection. With EdTech now attracting attention from educators everywhere, classrooms of the future will be borderless, accessible round the clock and delivered by empowered instructors.
As long as we continue to innovate and promote this type of design thinking, we’ll be able to build the right tools to help drive digital learning and provide teachers, parents and students with the right platform to strengthen their skills and achieve better outcomes.
