AI for Education: Personalised Learning Through Technological Advances

Personalised learning is not an idea that is new to our education system. However, the concept has been popularised vastly by the rise of cutting-edge education technology, particularly in the last few years.. Today, parents and teachers are trying to get the best out of technologies facilitating personalised learning, in acknowledgement of the fact that every student is unique and their ability to grasp lessons is thus varied.

With the advancements in technology, personalised learning has acquired a whole new meaning. Traditional learning settings have always maintained an unequal student-to-teacher ratio. The emergence of technology and electronic devices, however, has made equalising this ratio much more viable, with one-on-one interactions now possible and inexpensive. Some even view emergent technologies as replacements for human educators. However, while technology can provide quick solutions to learners, they are not as skilled at breaking down the process leading up to the answer, to allow students to understand how the solution was reached. For this reason, learners necessarily still need human educators to facilitate the tech-driven learning process.

Education specialists say that tech-driven personalised learning is much more than just students plugging into devices and following certain self-guided activities. Rather, it actively encourages students to take ownership of their own learning experiences.

Approach to Personalised Learning

While the first step to effective education is identifying robust, personalised learning practices, to put them into action can be quite challenging. Developing optimal, individualised education systems is largely about finding the right tools to reach specific education outcomes. From a teacher’s perspective, this is not only about using some adaptive software, but also about teaching students how to think creatively and effectively.

Emergence of Open AI’s ChatGPT-4

A whole new generation of high-end technologies has emerged over the past few months, including Open AI’s ChatGPT-4. These large language models use neural networks trained on enormous data sets to produce human-like texts. By understanding context and analysing patterns in inputs, these bots can produce appropriate and consistent responses to queries. If we study these properly, we will find that these responses have flaws and limitations, but they can nevertheless offer us a sneak-peek of what can happen in future, where AI assistants will relieve educators from mundane and tedious tasks, allowing them to spend more time with students. Such a development may very well usher in an era of individualised learning, empowering all students to realise their full potential, fostering a more equitable and effective educational experience for all.

Why AI Tools May Be Successful

• Smarter Capabilities: AI tools have already passed innumerable standard tests—from high school to graduate, and professional-level exams that include science, mathematics, coding, history, literature and law. The rate of improvement of these systems is astonishing. For instance, GPT-4 made great progress in just four months—from a failing grade on the bar exam to scoring almost 90%. It scored nearly 93% in the SAT reading and writing test, 88% in the LSAT and got a record 5%—the highest score—in many of the advanced placement examinations.
• Reasoning Engines: AI models, such as GPT-4, Google’s Bard and Microsoft’s Bing Chat, are developing into sophisticated reasoning engines that can contextualise, infer and deduce information just like a human. The new AI tools act like expert graduate research assistants. They can be asked to conduct literature reviews, analyse data or text, synthesise findings and generate customised lesson plans, content and stories, too.
• Language Interface: Another amazing aspect of these smart tools is their ability to interpret and respond to natural language commands, removing the need to go through confusing menus or create complicated formulas. These systems also explain concepts in easy-to-understand ways with pictures and examples that one can relate to. They can even rephrase a response or provide more examples.
• Individualised Tutoring: The ability of these AI tools to comprehend and generate human-like text allows for giving personalised tutoring to students. They can even provide explanations, guidance and real-time feedback customised to a learner’s interests and exact needs.
• Helping Teachers: Teachers spend long hours on administrative tasks, such as lesson planning and searching for instructional resources, and end up spending less time on teaching. It is here that the reasoning aspect of AI tools can help teachers optimise their time—by automating these tasks, such as generating lesson plan ideas, translating content for English learners, developing worksheets and creating interesting quizzes.
• Student Assistants: AI-based feedback mechanisms have the potential to provide constructive critiques on student writing, such as feedback according to different assessments, which helps students improve the quality of their work and enhance their writing skills. It also provides instant help when students get stuck with any idea or project.

These smart technologies may be very promising, but it is important to understand that they have limitations. At times, they still struggle with calculations and often come up with incorrect information. So, instead of replacing the expertise and judgement of teachers, AI-powered tools should be used as a support system to improve the overall educational experience of educators and students. In harnessing AI power, it will be possible to create a future where teaching and learning are not only more effective and fair, but also deeply personalised, with students being able to accomplish their full potential and teachers free to focus on teaching and nurturing meaningful connections with students.

About the author: Deepak Subbarao is the Co-Founder of Avidii, an EdTech company that offers expert teachers 24x7 on-demand to provide customised learning experiences to students. At Avidii, he leads the India market, product development, services, and technology division, with a focus on tailoring offerings to the new markets. Prior to developing Avidii, Deepak served in several leadership and business roles for more than two decades in various Fortune 100 companies. He began his career with GE Healthcare as a Design Engineer and progressed through various leadership and technical positions. Having professionally worked in three continents, Deepak took the leap to start Avidii after personally experiencing the challenges of homeschooling his children during the pandemic.