Artificial Intelligence: Aiding higher education

Blog / Artificial Intelligence: Aiding higher education

Impact of COVID19 on the education system

UNESCO’s figures refer to learners enrolled at pre-primary, primary, lower-secondary, and upper-secondary levels of education as well as at tertiary level. 1,379,344,914 students or 80 percent of the world’s learners are now being kept out of educational institutions by country-wide closures. Another 284 million learners are being affected in some way by closures at a localized level, such as those seen in U.S. states like California and Virginia. 138 governments have now ordered country-wide closures of their schools and universities. 

Connecting via a good internet is still a problem for approximately half of the world’s population (some 3.6 billion people). This means that at least 463 million or nearly one-third of students around the globe cannot access remote learning, mainly due to a lack of online learning policies or lack of equipment needed to connect from home. Most students do not have the appropriate connectivity, device and digital skills required to find and use educational content dependent on technology.

According to UN estimates, nearly 500 million students from pre-primary to upper-secondary school did not have any access to any remote learning—three quarters of those lived in the poorest households or rural areas. This enormous digital divide shows how connectivity has become a key factor to guarantee the right to education. Digital skills and learning must be incorporated into education systems in order to address the injustice of the digital divide. This crucial issue is among many currently being debated through UNESCO’s Futures of Education initiative, a global conversation to reimagine how knowledge and learning can shape the future of humanity and the planet. The report is due to come out in November 2021.

Remote learning: Backed up by technology

The popularity of online learning is a trend nowadays. With more flexibility and self-directed options to access the same instructions just as traditional learning makes it easier and effective for the students to focus.

In basic terminology, Online learning is a type of learning that takes place over the internet which is not limited to a course or degree whereas remote learning irrespective of the fact that it happens online still creates a classroom environment through the computer which means that the student logs in to a virtual classroom. This is done on scheduled timing to view the lectures and participate in group learning activities. 

Recognizing the importance of remote learning with the inclusion of technology is a vital element. UNESCO had launched a hackathon with the theme, ‘‘AI for Earth’ and all activities were linked to the relevant United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Across two days, participating girls undertook practical exercises focused on how AI can be used to better understand sustainability – particularly climate change and biodiversity loss. As its outcome, the girls learned different AI prediction modeling and techniques, such as decision trees and random decision forests. They also learned about data collection, data cleaning, image classification algorithms, and statistical testing. 

Artificial Intelligence aiding remote learning

AI could become a really big part of virtual learning and at-home learning, but that takes time with respect to the implementation. For many of the educators, they’re just dipping their feet into how this would work. Having a virtual tutor is something that is becoming more and more in the conversation of AI, but it is not something that is easily becoming the new normal. There is an essential need to educate the lesser known about the advantages of using AI-driven learning. 

It is because of artificial intelligence that educators today are able to provide a personalized learning environment to the students. The researchers have developed systems that can automatically detect whether students are able to understand the study material or not. 

Chatbots can offer a huge value here by helping the students during the admission processes can further be used to provide them all the necessary information about their courses, its modules, and faculties. The bots can also act as campus guides and help the students as they arrive at the campus. They can help the students find out more about the scholarships, hostel facilities, library memberships, and so on. 

Technology has enabled the students to get everything instantly. Whether it is sending an email, posting a picture, searching a place, or even finding online assignment help, everything can be done in just a few clicks. 

Conclusion

At a place where AI and Chatbots can be used to make the learning process more engaging and interesting for the students, they can also be used to facilitate the teaching process. They can help in reducing the workload of the administrative staff of the educational institutions. As a result, we can expect an immense growth of the education sector, beneficiary interactions between the students and the teachers and a superior classroom environment. It would not only enhance the students’ learning, but would foster vision, resilience, and inquisitiveness among them. What do you think?

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