EDITOR’S QUESTION
AI personalising teaching
Understanding the best way to teach a cohort made of different
skills and abilities has always been an issue, but with AI it can now be
possible to automatically develop personalised teaching plans and
learning styles that fit each individual. Systems can quickly identify
how each individual learns best and the academic level they sit in,
making one-to-one teaching a genuine possibility.
T
hey say every day is a school day. That feels more relevant
now than ever. New innovations flood our world on a weekly,
if not daily, basis and for us in the technology sector, it’s our
job to keep up to date and see how best we can utilise them.
It’s the same in education. How our children are learning is changing
rapidly thanks to technology. Teachers, students and corporations
all over the world are waking up to how they could augment the
learning environment. Institutions everywhere are using video to
connect staff with students more easily, conduct faculty and staff
meetings, and enable students to meet with one another for study
sessions and group projects.
One innovative use of video tech in education is how Classroom
Champions brings Olympians into the classroom to help mentor
children in under-served schools. By using video conferencing,
students can see and talk to inspiring Olympic athletes whom they
would never usually form contact with, gaining valuable insight and
helping bring mentors into the classroom.
University staff can also integrate video tech like BlueJeans with
Moodle, Blackboard, Desire2Learn and others to create and join
video meetings directly from the learning management system
(LMS) of choice, allowing lecturers to focus on teaching their students
– not the technology that enables it. Regardless of the environment
or form that learning takes, there’s one commonality – video can
make it easier.
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INTELLIGENTCIO
Such technology also collects a wealth of data on student
performance so that educators can keep track of individual student
progress and improve instruction when needed. Contrary to what
many might think, AI technology has the power to improve how
teachers engage and interact with their classes, rather than removing
them from the equation.
Democratising access
Cheap, easy-to-use technologies like the Chromebook – initially
built for the education audience – mean that from an early age,
all children will be able to access resources that previously would
have been restricted due to prohibitive cost. Such ease-of-access
is crucial in a world that is completely built around technology.
We complete our tax returns online, we bank online, we socialise
online. The simple nature of giving students their own device
through which to engage with this landscape will mean they can
self-teach and develop themselves in ways that simply weren’t
possible before.
What’s next?
This access to technology means that even the role of teachers is
changing. As students can flexibly access any information online,
engage with others via video and manage their own learning,
educators will have to change their role. They will have to become
guides, helping those they teach to critique the information they
receive and understand how to analyse and take advantage of the
world around them for their benefit. And with technology like cloud
video, AI and cheap-but-powerful devices at their fingertips, the
opportunities for them to do this will be almost endless. n
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