The Future of AI in the Classroom

Good morning, class! Today we have two new students. Say hello to Siri and Alexa!

All kidding aside… where does AI sit in your classroom?

Whether you’re intrigued by the idea of AI, terrified, excited, or radically opposed, artificial intelligence in the classroom leaves no one indifferent.

The applications of AI in the classroom, however, will likely surprise you. A far cry from a robot taking over your teaching duties, AI is evolving to help automate tedious tasks (essay grading, anyone?), read and react to student emotions, identify and differentiate learning, and yes, even help answer questions.

Let’s explore the lunar landscape of AI in the classroom in all of its many applications, including some adorable teddy-bear robots!

What is artificial intelligence in the classroom?

A recent report from Microsoft says that “Artificial intelligence (AI) gives teachers and schools new ways to understand how students are progressing and allows for highly customized, timely, and targeted curation of content.”

So what can AI do? Also known as machine learning, current AI can solve problems and reason for itself by identifying patterns and adapting accordingly.

For example, the flashy technology behind deepfake is actually a form of AI that creates an incredibly realistic copy (virtually undistinguishable from the original) of a famous face and inserts it into a video based on thousands of hours of video footage.

Check out this video to learn more about what AI is:

Copy video.

AI for Learning Analytics

If we’ve already established that using AI for essay-grading could revolutionize the amount of work teachers have to take home, what else could it do for learning analytics?

Since AI analyzes and makes predictions based on the information it’s given, every time your students submit work or ask questions online, AI tools can go to work assembling powerful student learning analytics.

From determining and anticipating learning needs to recommending extension materials or extra support, using AI in the classroom for learning analytics is one application that teachers across the globe can get behind.

AI for Remote Learning

Picture this. You see your students’ faces before you in the squares of a Zoom classroom. It looks just like every other online class, except for one small difference.

Who’s that in the bottom left corner? That’s your AI teaching assistant!

Think of it as an advanced version of a chatbot with a face. In an online classroom, AI can help respond to student questions, often even faster than the teacher!

This allows for more time from the teacher to provide the type of personalized feedback that students truly need, which is often difficult to find time for.

Enhancing SEL with AI

Social robots are one adorable application of AI in the classroom. Teachers can use this version of AI to tap into social-emotional learning.

One MIT study explains that these social robots:

support a holistic human experience that engages people of all ages more deeply in social, emotional, cognitive, emotional ways to empower transformative, aspirational change. We design, innovate, deploy, study, and evaluate our creations with stakeholders in the real world over long-term encounters to help people be healthier, happier, creative, emotionally resilient, and to learn better.

What do these robots look like? Think teddy-bear-like cuddly robots that help students learn skills like new languages, storytelling, and vocabulary.

The MIT researchers even embed the robots with a growth mindset to encourage and develop resilience and persistence in students. What teacher wouldn’t like to see these traits in their students?

AI: A Necessary Skill for Today’s Students

Beyond using AI as a vehicle to enhance learning, students also need to acquire skills on how to use AI.

According to ISTE’s AI experts, by 2025, AI will be responsible for over 50% of the tasks the current job force is responsible for.

Copy video.

Teaching students how to design, program, and use AI is one of the future skills that students will absolutely need to know to stay competitive in the job market.

Is AI a Solution to the Teacher Shortage?

With all this talk of AI, social robots, and new job skills, you might be wondering – are the robots coming for my job?

However sophisticated it may be, there are limitations to AI in education, and without a doubt the most significant one is that nothing can replace a teacher.

But the real answer to the question is more complex than this. While there’s no substitute for the personal touch the teacher provides for their students, perhaps AI can alleviate some of the pain points that are causing the teacher shortage.

A 2020 study from Microsoft and McKinsey & Company found the following:

Our current research suggests that 20 to 40 percent of current teacher hours are spent on activities that could be automated using existing technology. That translates into approximately 13 hours per week that teachers could redirect toward activities that lead to higher student outcomes and higher teacher satisfaction. In short, our research suggests that existing technology can help teachers reallocate 20 to 40 percent of their time to activities that support student learning.

Couple that with AI-powered messaging to contact absentee students’ families, social robots to help nurture every child, lifelike chatbots to aid in answering questions, and new skill sets to teach students to motivate and prepare them for the job market, and you may have a cocktail to soothe teacher burnout and even cut down on the number of those who abandon the profession.

What is the future of AI in the classroom?

So, what does the future hold? There’s no question that if artificial intelligence isn’t already a part of your classroom, it certainly will be in the near future, in whatever form it may take.

And if the emotion this sparks in you is fear, try swapping it out for hope. In the words of IBM’s first female CEO, Ginni Rometty:

Some people call this artificial intelligence, but the reality is this technology will enhance us. So instead of artificial intelligence, I think we’ll augment our intelligence.