EDT Insights
This Week in
AI & Education
In the rapidly changing landscape of AI & Education, keeping up with the latest news and developments is essential and EDT is dedicated to helping you stay up-to-date with the latest news & insights.
1. The changing state of AI in education
The education sector’s initial reaction to ChatGPT’s release in November was a largely negative and panicked response as they were faced with a new and powerful tool that could answer any question and write full essays on almost any topic.
However, now months later, the outlook is a lot less bleak. Many in education from teachers to governments now believe ChatGPT can actually help make education better. Here are some EDT insights on the current state of AI in education:
Advocates for AI in the classroom
- Banning ChatGPT is futile, possibly even counterproductive. Instead, it is important to prepare students for a future world where artificial intelligence is present in classrooms.
- Richard Culatta, CEO of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) advocates for the use of technology in teaching. “We need to be asking what we need to do to prepare young people—learners—for a future world that’s not that far in the future” he was quoted as saying in an article in the MIT Technology Review.
- Educational-tech companies including Duolingo, Quizlet and Chegg have already integrated OpenAI’s services into their apps. Just this week, Class announced their new A.I. Teaching Assistant on their webpage.
- Advanced chatbots could be used as a tool offering many possibilities to enhance classroom interactivity and engagement, as well as generate personalized lessons.
- With automation and fewer administrative tasks, AI can help teachers save time and focus on the teacher-student relationship, which is precisely something that tech can never replace.
Is AI the push we need to transform education?
- A majority of teachers and students agree that ChatGPT is just another example of why we can’t keep doing things the old way for schools in the modern world. One example includes rethinking how we assess learning.
- With advancements in technology, assessments will become more accessible around the globe, replacing the traditional face-to-face model with a digital and more inclusive model. Assessments as we know them have become obsolete.
The first events bringing governments, public and private sectors together
- Schools and teachers require assistance integratating ChatGPT into their curriculum and teaching. They need support from their governments in the form of money, training, and regulation.
- The Edtech Congress in Barcelona this week (19-20 April) is an example of Edtech companies and public and private education sectors coming together to talk about learning in the era of AI.
- The debate on the need for regulation is not new and can be traced back to the launch of the internet in the 1990s. Once again, we return to the same question: Is government regulation needed for ethical purposes?
2. Will AI minimize educational inequalities in regions like LATAM?
This week a joint report ‘The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Education in Latin America’ was released at an event by OEI (Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture) and ProFuturo. The report aims to define the state and perception of education and AI in the region. Specialists in the sector collaborated on the report, analyzing AI’s impact on education as well as its productivity and prospects in Ibero-America.
Proposals for progress, advantages and risks of AI in Latin America were discussed. Pablo Langa, Founder and Managing Partner at EDT&Partners participated in the event as an expert on the topic.
Our insights from ‘The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Education in Latin America’
- We must teach our students to be critical but also honest about AI and when and how they use it, incorporating Bloom’s taxonomy and his hierarchical classification of the different levels of thinking. AI has the potential to help improve students’ ethical and critical thinking skills by enabling them to distinguish between real and unreal information and analyze the most relevant points of their learning.
- Personalized education and modern assessments are transforming the way students in LATAM access quality education, helping overcome inequality. However, significant challenges remain including limited access to the internet, insufficient development of digital competence and difficulty in accessing hardware. Even if AI helps reduce inequality of opportunities in education within countries, these challenges may exacerbate disparities between different countries with varying levels of access to devices, internet infrastructure, and even local AI development capabilities.
Interesting uses of AI in education
- By leveraging predictive models, it can be easier to proactively prevent absenteeism and dropouts, especially among the most vulnerable and at-risk students.
- Although there are numerous possibilities in K-12, the impact of AI will be even greater in Higher Education and among students with learning differences. Universities and higher education institutions and students with special learning needs stand to benefit the most from the potential benefits technology can offer.
In a world where technology is rapidly changing at an unprecedented pace, EDT&Partners is dedicated to providing you with the latest news and insights at the intersection of education & technology.
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