It’s been a long time since anything fundamental about education has changed…
- Teachers stand at the front of the classroom and deliver lessons to rows of students.
- Exams test retention and performance.
- Grades and assignments provide sporadic feedback.
But the rise of artificial intelligence presents an opportunity to reimagine this model and create a more collaborative classroom environment. We can leverage the strengths of both human teachers and AI. Working together, teachers and AI tools can enhance the learning process for students- stimulate teachers, and maybe even make their jobs easier at the same time!
The Role of AI in Lesson Planning
What takes a ton of time? Developing effective lesson plans. Teachers have to determine the right structure, activities, assignments, and assessments to achieve specific learning objectives. They need to account for different learning styles across all their students. It’s a complex endeavor for even the most seasoned educator. AI-powered tools promise to streamline this process and help teachers create more personalized and engaging lesson plans.
How can we keep our fingers on the pulse and help students more? AI algorithms can analyze past lessons, student performance, and feedback to identify patterns and insights.
For example, an AI tutor could determine that a particular 10th grade class struggles with quadratic equations. It may notice that lessons featuring interactive activities on this topic receive higher engagement levels. The AI could then recommend more group work, games, or physical manipulatives to cover quadratics for this class. An intelligent tool may even generate custom worksheets or tweak lesson sequencing for each student based on individual progress.
By handling the busywork of analyzing student data and making recommendations, AI systems allow teachers to focus their expertise on higher-level planning. Teachers will still decide on the overall learning goals, conceptual scope, and format of each lesson. But AI helps them differentiate and enhance the specifics to cater to diverse learner needs. It provides a bird’s-eye view of student strengths and problem areas that a single teacher cannot easily track for all their classes.
AI doesn’t replace teachers in planning—it augments their abilities.
More Feedback Mechanisms for Students
One of the key ingredients to student growth is receiving frequent and specific feedback tied to learning objectives. But with crowded classrooms and overloaded schedules, teachers often struggle to provide ongoing feedback to each student. There simply aren’t enough hours in the day to carefully assess each piece of work and have individual conversations with all learners. AI tutors can help close this feedback gap through real-time assessment and recommendations during lessons.
AI learning platforms can automatically analyze assignments, exercises, and assessments as students complete them. Algorithms provide immediate feedback on areas of improvement.
For example, an AI writing tutor could determine which concepts a student is struggling with in an essay, highlighting run-on sentences that need work. An algebra tutor may point out steps missed in a math problem. This immediate feedback allows students to self-correct and learn from their mistakes in real-time, increasing understanding.
Some AI tutors even offer adaptive scaffolding based on student responses. If a learner continues struggling with a certain concept, the tutor adjusts and provides additional activities to build skills and close knowledge gaps. AI enables truly personalized and responsive feedback tuned to each student’s evolving needs. And it crucially allows teachers more time for higher-level feedback on overall progress, deeper discussions on subject mastery, and mentoring student growth.
AI systems can aggregate feedback data to inform teachers. By compiling assessment results and progress metrics, AI provides teachers a dashboard highlighting class-wide problem areas or individual student struggles. Not only does this help teachers adjust lesson plans accordingly, but it focuses teacher-student feedback discussions efficiently. The teacher has an overview of each student’s strengths and weaknesses beforehand, allowing more targeted support conversations. AI systems and teachers can work together to provide multilevel, ongoing feedback for enhanced learning.
The Benefits of AI Tutors
In addition to assisting during regular classroom activities, AI tutoring systems can provide supplementary learning support outside of class. Students benefit from extended practice time and individual support to cement concepts and improve skills. AI tutors essentially offer scalable one-on-one tutoring 24/7, eliminating geographic and scheduling constraints.
Intelligent tutoring systems continuously assess students to determine knowledge gaps or misconceptions. The AI tutor then recommends specific activities around struggling subject areas and provides tailored guidance in those concepts.
For example, if a student misses algebra test questions around factoring polynomials, the AI tutor assigns interactive practice problems, mini-lessons, and worked examples around factoring to build understanding and confidence.
Some of the most advanced AI learning platforms even offer conversational tutors. These chatbot tutors simulate natural language dialogue to explain concepts, answer questions, provide feedback, and encourage learners. Students find conversing with a friendly tutor less intimidating than admitting confusion to a teacher in front of peers. And these dialogue-based tutors create a safe space for students to surface gaps in understanding that may otherwise go unaddressed in regular classroom environments.
According to studies, students engaging with AI tutoring platforms show learning gains of up to 200% more than students receiving traditional instruction alone. By providing personalized guidance tailored to students’ evolving needs, AI tutoring complements classroom teaching and accelerates learning for all types of learners. Intelligent tutoring systems free up more of teachers’ time to work directly with students who need extra human support.
Challenges to Integrating AI in Classrooms
While the potential benefits are compelling, effectively integrating AI into classrooms also poses challenges. Some of the hurdles facing schools are:
- Teacher training and buy-in
- Tech glitches
- Student data privacy
- High costs
For teachers less experienced with technology, adopting AI systems can prove daunting. Without proper training and support in implementing these tools, teachers may experience frustration and abandonment. School leaders must provide continuous professional development around using AI tools to enhance teaching. When teachers feel confident leveraging the technology, they will embrace it.
Even with training, technical problems inevitably crop up with classroom technology.
- Spotty internet connections, login issues, buggy software—these common glitches interrupt lessons and create barriers to adopting AI tools.
- IT support and infrastructure must be robust enough to facilitate smooth technology deployment in schools.
- Medical settings have similarly faced technology adoption challenges and may provide useful examples.
Student data privacy is another area of concern when introducing AI in schools. AI algorithms rely on student data to provide personalized feedback and recommendations. But schools must be transparent about data practices and ensure students’ personal information remains protected and anonymous. Following principles of ethical AI development and creating guardrails around data usage will be critical.
The cost of purchasing and implementing AI technologies also poses a challenge for already cash-strapped school districts. While AI tools can provide exponential benefits, they require significant upfront investment. Government grants, private partnerships, and even crowdsourced funding may help schools overcome budget hurdles and adopt transformative technologies. With long-term use, AI can also help schools use resources more efficiently.
Real-Life Case Studies
Pioneering schools around the globe provide useful case studies of how AI can assist teachers, enhance learning, and create collaborative classrooms.
Georgia State University was an early adopter of AI-powered adaptive learning platforms. In 2013, the university rolled out a system to track academic performance and recommend interventions to support at-risk students. This AI analyzes past students’ data to identify those in danger of dropping out or failing courses. Automated nudges then go out to current students facing similar issues, connecting them with tutoring, advising, or other resources to get back on track. These AI supports have helped improve Georgia State’s graduation rate by over 20% in the past decade. (1)
Schools in rural India have tapped AI to expand access to quality education. In communities with few trained teachers, schools have deployed intelligent tutoring systems on shared tablets. These conversational tutors provide interactive lessons in science, math, literacy, and other foundation skills. Working with the tutors an hour a day for several months has helped students, particularly girls, gain up to two years of learning compared to traditional classroom settings alone. The tools expand educational opportunity for these remote villages.
Singapore is experimenting with virtual substitutes powered by AI. When a teacher gets sick or is otherwise absent, schools send out a humanoid robot with the instructor’s face projected on it. Microphones, cameras, and AI software allow the virtual substitute to teach planned lessons, see and hear the students, call on them, answer questions, and more. While not a complete stand-in, it provides continuity and reduces disruptions when teachers have to miss class.
One day, classrooms may also integrate AI teaching assistants. These assistants could handle routine tasks like taking attendance, fielding common questions, and pulling up assigned materials to free teachers to focus on students. AI progress dashboards could also replace traditional report cards and provide holistic, ongoing insight into each learner. And AI generators may help teachers quickly create lesson plans, student activities, assessments, and feedback tailored to their classes.
Moving Towards Smarter, More Collaborative Classrooms
These examples reveal a glimpse into the future of teaching and learning. AI edtech tools won’t replace teachers. But purposefully designed AI has immense potential to enhance how teachers support students. Technology will never mimic the social-emotional mentorship, creativity, and human connections teachers provide. However, AI excels at the data analysis, administrative tasks, recall-based knowledge, and individual recommendations that overburden teachers. Freed from repetitive work, teachers can focus on guiding learning and interpersonal development.
Together, humans and AI make each other better for the benefit of students. AI isn’t something that happens to teachers and classrooms—rather, educators must actively shape how these technologies integrate with practice. Teachers know learning contexts best and must steer edtech tools to align with pedagogical goals. Technology designers and schools will need to collaborate closely and solicit teacher input when developing AI for the classroom. With the right approach, smart classrooms that tap the complementary strengths of teachers and AI can transform education and unlock new levels of student potential. The greatest contribution of AI won’t be replacing teachers—it will be empowering them.
References
Adaptive Learning Tools | Georgia State Student Success Initiatives
Several years ago, the university began to redesign all introductory math courses—Pre-Calculus, College Algebra and Elementary Statistics—using adaptive …
Adaptive Learning Programs – CETLOE – Georgia State University
Adaptive Learning Courseware adjusts to students personalized learning needs by allowing students to interact with information at their own pace and discover …
Second, the Pounce system leverages artificial intelligence to handle an ever-growing set of student issues, challenges, and questions (e.g., …
Digital Learning Environments and Teaching Tools – CETLOE – Georgia State University
iCollege is Georgia State’s digital learning environment. Find instructor support, and create integrated course assignments and materials with a growing suite …
Transforming Higher Education: Exploring the Power of Artificial Intelligence – LinkedIn
… powered systems can automate grading processes for objective assessments, reducing instructor workload. Examples: Georgia State University: …
Abstract. Adaptive learning (AL) courseware holds promise for helping break down challenges students face in college.
AI Goes Rural enhances student and teacher experiences in rural Indiana: : 2023: News
Therefore, it aims to empower educators in rural areas with the necessary skills and resources to effectively teach AI concepts.
This is how Conversational AI rebuilds education in rural India – INDIAai
This is how Conversational AI rebuilds education in rural India … EdTech platforms in India are gradually making their way to rural India. They …
Conversational AI: Technology Redefining Online Education In Rural India – LinkedIn
Artificial Intelligence has the potential to make a huge impact on learning, teaching, and education. AI-enabled chatbots are generating …
From Fields to Frontiers: Skilling Rural India in the Age of AI and ChatGPT
However, rural youth in India often face additional challenges due to limited access to quality education and training opportunities. With …
Singapore looks for generative AI use cases with sandbox options – ZDNET
Two sandboxes now are available for government agencies and businesses in Singapore to develop and test generative artificial intelligence (AI) …
AI, Robotics and Mobility as a Service: the Case of Singapore – OpenEdition Journals
Secondly, Singapore does not intend for autonomous vehicles as a direct replacement … References. Bibliographical reference. Eng Huiling and Benjamin Goh, “AI …
Will artificial intelligence take over our lives in Singapore? – The Honeycombers
We chat with industry experts to find out. The rise of artificial intelligence in Singapore: A robot barista, a virtual influencer and chatbots.
Singapore: Launches World’s first AI Governance Testing Framework and Toolkit
On 25 May 2022, Singapore launched the World’s first AI Governance Testing Framework and Toolkit (“AI Verify”), which is intended for companies wishing to …
[PDF] national-ai-strategy.pdf
We will leverage AI through the Singapore. Student Learning Space (SLS), an online learning platform for all students and teachers in the national school system …
‘Ask Jamie’ Virtual Assistant – Government Technology Agency
… virtual assistants (VA) and artificial intelligence (AI) technology to help citizens and businesses navigate online government services and improve service …