Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a buzzword in higher education these days. AI refers to machines that can perform tasks previously achievable only through human cognition. It offers immense potential for institutions to streamline time-intensive administrative and academic work, improve the efficiency of IT processes, and ensure smooth enrollments, especially during uncertain times.
The pedagogical implications and effectiveness of educational AI have been tested in various institutions worldwide. AI proves valuable in both the teaching and learning aspects of higher education. Educational institutions can harness the power of AI to enhance retention, understand the future scope of education and technological advancements, improve learning outcomes, and gain insights into emerging educational trends and challenges.
Furthermore, there are several other ways in which AI is transforming higher education, particularly benefiting students.
Benefits for Students
When considering students’ goals, it is clear that they seek to obtain a degree and build a successful career by applying and demonstrating their knowledge. AI assists students in achieving these goals by simplifying educational processes. This includes providing students with guidance to select appropriate courses, facilitating communication with teachers, and freeing up more time for them to focus on other aspects of their lives. In this way, AI significantly impacts students’ educational journey.
Personalized learning:
One of the most significant applications of AI in education is personalized learning, which tailors courses to meet the unique needs of each learner. AI-generated personalized training helps students achieve their learning objectives by adjusting factors such as learning speed, content quality, technological tools, and teaching methods. AI enables students to learn at their own pace, according to their availability and convenience. By analyzing extensive student data, such as performance, interests, and goals, AI can recommend relevant educational resources such as books, articles, videos, and other materials. This ensures that students receive content aligned with their specific needs.
Quick solutions:
Students often face frustration when their queries go unanswered for a long time, which can demotivate them in their learning journey. Due to a high volume of questions, teachers may struggle to respond promptly. AI addresses this issue by providing quick answers through conversational intelligence and support automation. This allows students to find solutions within seconds, giving them more time to devote to other tasks and enabling them to progress towards their goals faster. AI empowers students to become more knowledgeable in the era of globalization, providing them with intelligent solutions. A prominent example of this is the chat GPT, which assists students in exam preparation, project development, and other areas. The response time of AI chatbots to students is as low as 2.7 seconds.
After-school tutoring:
Many students require additional tutoring outside of regular school hours. AI offers valuable support by providing personalized and one-on-one learning experiences. The COVID-19 pandemic further highlighted the need for AI in education, especially for providing educational opportunities beyond the confines of the classroom. While no chatbot can replace educators, AI supplements learning by sharpening students’ skills and addressing their weaknesses. AI has the capability to provide individual attention to students, observing their content consumption patterns and studying habits, thereby assisting them in excelling in their respective fields.
Intact Learning:
AI has opened the doors to knowledge with great accessibility. It has made learning easy for students, enabling them to learn in their own space anytime, anywhere, 24/7. Students can now learn without being limited by geographical barriers. For instance, students can pursue degree or certificate courses from foreign universities without the need to physically relocate.
One of the remarkable potentials of AI is its ability to ensure inclusive education by providing support and accessibility to students with disabilities, such as those who are audio or visually impaired, physically challenged, or struggle with cognitive, language, and social skills. Tools like audio transcribers, included with software such as MS Office, are proving useful for students with hearing issues in understanding lectures. Additionally, speech-to-text technology can assist visually impaired students in taking class notes and completing exams. AI has truly made education easy and accessible for everyone.
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Benefit for Educators
Personalized teaching:
Institutions can utilize AI-powered adaptive learning platforms to analyze students’ performance, strengths, weaknesses, and learning styles. By analyzing such data, the system can provide personalized learning pathways, appropriate content, resources, and activities that align with students’ specific needs. Institutions can support students by using an AI-driven tutor system that assesses their understanding, identifies difficulties, and offers targeted solutions, feedback, and practice exercises. This helps institutions create a better learning experience for students in higher education.
Teacher’s assistant:
In the education sector, teachers often face exhaustion due to heavy workloads and extended working hours. In such cases, AI serves as a helping hand for them. Many of the tasks teachers perform are mundane and repetitive, such as tracking attendance, scoring tests, and assigning assignments. AI can handle these repetitive tasks, allowing teachers to complete their tasks without becoming exhausted. For example, if institutions use AI to track attendance, an AI chatbot can keep a record of attendance, send messages to parents, and provide recorded sessions to absent students, ensuring they don’t miss anything.
Student recruitment practices:
AI can assist the recruitment team by creating an algorithm that better predicts which applicants are more likely to accept and enroll in a course, as well as provide other relevant information. AI also helps in managing payment records, creating personalized messages, and generating enrollment credentials, thereby streamlining the recruitment process.
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Administrative companion:
AI chatbots can serve as excellent administrative companions, reducing rush and long queues at institutions. AI can provide details about various courses and answer queries online, share fee structures and other important information, guide students about campus events and provide updates on institutional processes. It can also address customer inquiries on the chatbot, enhancing administrative efficiency.
Feedback collection, assessment, and evaluation:
Feedback is crucial for continuous improvement. Through the use of AI, institutions can collect feedback on all aspects and become leaders in their field. The valuable information obtained can be used to address areas with poor results. AI can also conduct assessments, evaluate them, calculate scores, and provide personalized feedback to students for improvement, making the assessment process more insightful. However, subjective answers still require human cognition.
Data repository:
AI chatbots act as data collection tools for the education industry. Teachers can use them to distribute important information to all students simultaneously. The collected data can be utilized to make informed decisions, solve problems, and derive insightful conclusions.
AI has the potential to bridge the skill and learning gap and promote equality in education. Sustainable development goal 4 of the United Nations focuses on inclusive and quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all. Now international organizations like UNESCO also have shown conviction towards AI, that it has the potential to transform education and meet educational goals. So educational institutions and students can leverage this technology for their growth and development.
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