{"id":22773,"date":"2021-04-29T08:22:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-29T08:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/ai-more-revolutionary-for-education-than-internet\/"},"modified":"2023-08-23T04:37:05","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T04:37:05","slug":"ai-more-revolutionary-for-education-than-internet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/ai-ml\/ai-more-revolutionary-for-education-than-internet\/","title":{"rendered":"Artificial Intelligence Will Be More Revolutionary For Education Than The Internet"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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From the advent of the personal computer in the late 70s and early 80s, the explosion of the internet in the 90s, to the period of ubiquitous computing through the smartphone and all that came after, we have seen a fundamental change in the way we engage with teaching, learning and assessment through the digital medium. <\/p>\n\n

When computers first appeared in our classrooms, they gradually superseded older legacy technologies. Over time, the first iteration of computers and associated software was likewise replaced by newer networked devices and software applications. The hardware refresh cycle continues at pace today, and software developments appear to be accelerating further still.  <\/p>\n\n

Despite these developments, it is only the medium of teaching and learning that has changed. At its core very little else has changed, particularly regarding the pattern of delivery, class sizes, academic calendars, assessment practices, funding mechanisms for courses, the rising levels of uncertainty, the continued expansion of physical campuses, and more. You could argue that we have been guilty of shoving new ideas into old paradigms.   <\/p>\n\n

This is where artificial intelligence (AI) is different<\/strong><\/a>. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Contextualising learning<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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For instance, right now, if a learner or staff member logs in to an institution\u2019s site, it works in a very linear or homogenous manner \u2013 the experience is, more or less, the same for anyone landing on the homepage. However, with AI, this login could act as a kind of passport, signaling the system about each individual person\u2019s preferences, needs and requirements; and helping them get the information they need more efficiently. <\/p>\n\n

With this kind of personalised interaction, the context of each user\u2019s situation will alter the shape or form of the services they use. For example, if a learner logs in to a virtual learning environment (VLE), the AI system will recognise their \u2018passport\u2019 or profile and help them access material in the way that best suits them, or has been popular with other learners following a similar path. The system\u2019s behavioural traits are based on machine learning<\/a>, using large datasets to which the organisation already has access.  <\/p>\n\n

We can see the start of this kind of personalisation through technology such as chatbots. Colleges and universities across the world \u2013 including Bolton College \u2013 have started implementing chatbots to help answer routine day-to-day questions from users, freeing up time for employees to respond to more complex enquiries and support requests. At Bolton, our campus digital assistant<\/strong><\/a>, Ada (named after Ada Lovelace) is already making a difference to how our learners interact with campus services, but this is only the start.  <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Your own personal Alexa, Google Assistant or Siri<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The development of a lifelong learning digital companion for every individual is a natural progression of these individualised pathways through web systems \u2013 including websites, VLEs and apps. It will likely come in the form of a personal digital assistant that will be accessible via desktop, mobile and web systems. Any device that\u2019s used to engage with learning, whether that\u2019s smart speakers<\/strong><\/a>, a smartphone or laptop, will be able to engage with this assistant, which will learn and grow with each person as they journey through their studies or training.  <\/p>\n\n

Starting from the age of three or four, this assistant will accompany each learner through the course of their lives, gathering, processing, assimilating and relaying more and more information to trusted education providers who support their studies. Over time, this information may include academic performance, information about learning preferences, food allergies, learning support needs, long-term career goals, and so much more.  <\/p>\n\n

This will need to be carefully monitored, allowing each individual to decide what information to make available to education providers, but ideally it will give educators and even employers a holistic view to better support the needs of its rich and varied community of learners. I believe this fundamental change in education and workplace culture will define the development of AI. It will also impact on global education, as the \u2018learning assistant\u2019 would be available anywhere with an internet connection.  <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Make it ethical<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The education sector is constantly adjusting to rapid technological advances that have occurred since the start of the 21st<\/sup> century. AI will be truly transformative throughout society, and technological change and its role in our colleges and universities should be seen as part of a much larger paradigm around social, cultural and economic development. Digital skills education will play an essential role in this development, and the growth of AI-based services will also create new jobs \u2013 not only in education, but throughout the public and private sectors. <\/p>\n\n

With such a huge societal change, wider\u00a0guidance\u00a0will be important.\u00a0Jisc\u2019s\u00a0National Centre for AI\u00a0in Tertiary Education\u00a0will be essential,\u00a0sharing\u00a0information, advice and guidance\u00a0about how\u00a0AI\u00a0technologies<\/a>\u00a0may support campus\u00a0services, and establishing an ethical framework with the sector that could guide the design, management and use of\u00a0AI in education (AIED)\u00a0products and services.\u00a0This will\u00a0require\u00a0a comprehensive national programme –\u00a0similar\u00a0to\u00a0the BBC’s\u00a0Computer Literacy Project<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0back in the 1980s. It is eminently doable with the right organisations\u00a0on board.\u00a0The Centre will also play an important role in helping universities and colleges\u00a0to develop their AI journey, including rolling out Bolton\u00a0College\u2019s digital assistant,\u00a0Ada,\u00a0to additional sites.\u00a0This is part of\u00a0the Centre\u2019s\u00a0aims to deliver AI solutions at 60 colleges and 30 universities within five years.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Agility and flexibility are no longer optional in education, and developing our use and understanding of AI will only aid our journey to a more inclusive personalised experience. I, for one, am excited to see what comes of it.  <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have seen a fundamental change in the way we engage with teaching, learning and assessment through the digital medium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1122,"featured_media":23571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[183],"tags":[97,1542,1115,278],"ppma_author":[3848],"class_list":["post-22773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai-ml","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-digital-learning","tag-education","tag-internet"],"authors":[{"term_id":3848,"user_id":1122,"is_guest":0,"slug":"hussain","display_name":"Aftab Hussain","avatar_url":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Aftab-Hussain-150x150.jpeg","user_url":"http:\/\/www.boltoncollege.ac.uk\/","last_name":"Hussain","first_name":"Aftab","job_title":"","description":"Aftab Hussain is the Information Learning Technology (ILT) and Learning Resources Centre (LRC) Manager at Bolton College<\/a> UK, and a supporter of the National Centre for AI in Tertiary Education."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22773"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31156,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22773\/revisions\/31156"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22773"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=22773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}