How can I make the best use of AI as a teacher and student? Examples and case studies.
Text-generating AI can be seen as the new "teaching assistant" for education. AI paves the way for enriching educational experiences by promoting adaptive learning. What's more, AI can free up teachers' time by taking over administrative tasks. As a result, teachers can focus more on providing pedagogical support to students.
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Artificial intelligence (AI) plays a key role in personalising learning by enabling content, activities and teaching methods to be adapted to the specific needs of each learner. Here are a few ways in which AI facilitates this personalisation.
AI enables the creation of digital mentors and interactive virtual tutorials. Learners can benefit from personalised advice, specific feedback and additional resources to reinforce their learning.
Example of digital mentoring:
- Zelexio is a learning platform for teachers, learners and parents.
Thanks to AI, learning platforms can offer adaptive learning paths. AI systems assess learners' responses and progress in real time, then adjust content and activities according to their performance and specific needs. This allows each learner to progress at their own pace.
Examples of AI platforms that track learner progress and adjust content accordingly:
- Khan Academy offers adaptive learning paths in the fields of maths, science, economics, etc.
- Smart Sparrow is a platform used mainly in higher education.
AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants can provide one-to-one support by answering learners' questions, offering additional explanations and guiding them through the learning process. These tools enable learners to receive instant, personalised assistance based on their specific needs.
Examples of AI teaching platforms:
- IBM Watson Assistant: Watson Assistant is an AI platform developed by IBM for creating intelligent chatbots.
- Google Dialogflow: Dialogflow is an AI-powered chatbot development platform developed by Google.
- ChatGPT from OpenAI: ChatGPT is an AI model developed by OpenAI.
AI is used to power virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies, which immerse learners in realistic virtual environments. Using AI, these environments can be made more dynamic, interactive and responsive to learners' actions, creating a more realistic immersion experience.
Example of a VR application in education:
- Unimersiv offers downloads of educational content in virtual reality.
AI can be used to create simulations and models based on real-life scenarios. Learners can interact with these simulations, enabling them to understand and manipulate complex concepts in a practical way. AI can also provide real-time feedback on learners' performance, guiding them through their immersive experience.
Examples of simulation solutions used in top schools:
- MedicActiv offers technological tools to improve medical care and patient monitoring, particularly in the fields of telemedicine and teleconsultation. These simulations help students to develop practical skills in a risk-free environment for patients.
- Cesim offers a variety of business simulations for business schools and companies. Their simulations cover areas such as business strategy, operations management, marketing, finance, etc.
Artificial intelligence (AI) plays a crucial role in automating administrative tasks in the field of education. Here's how AI is facilitating this automation.
AI can be used to optimise the planning of lessons, timetables and resources. AI algorithms can take into account the constraints, preferences and availability of teachers and students to generate balanced and efficient timetables, avoiding conflicts and disruption.
Examples of timetabling software:
- Untis is used in a number of educational institutions to plan diaries.
- AscTimetables is another popular planning software used in schools and universities.
AI can automate the process of marking assignments, tests and assessments. AI systems use sophisticated algorithms to analyse student responses and provide accurate feedback and grades, saving teachers considerable time.
Examples of automatic markers
- Compilatio Magister detects duplicate content and assigns a similarity score. Teachers can quickly identify passages that are not referenced in the student's assignment.
- e-Rater analyses the linguistic characteristics, structure of the essay, coherence and organisation of the content, and awards a mark based on these criteria.
- IntelliMetric automatically assesses essays. Automated Essay Scoring, also known as AES, uses AI techniques to analyse and score student essays.
AI software is capable of detecting and correcting syntax and grammar errors. This is just as useful for students as it is for teachers. Everyone can check the spelling and conjugation of their writing.
Example of an online spellchecker:
- Reverso.net helps to improve the accuracy of English writing.
AI enables learners to interact with educational systems using their voice. It is used in education to transcribe written lectures, presentations and classroom discussions. Speech recognition is used for note-taking, quick searches for specific passages and accessibility for hearing-impaired students.
Example of a speech recognition service :
- Google doc: in your document, click on "Tools" then "Voice input".
AI enables the development of advanced collaboration tools such as e-learning platforms, digital workspaces and virtual environments. These tools enable learners to work together on projects, share ideas, collaborate on documents and solve problems in an interactive and synchronised way.
Examples of collaborative tools:
- Google Drive (Google Docs, Sheets, Slides...) lets you securely store, share and collaborate on files online.
- Trello allows you to plan and track actions.
Similarity detection software uses AI to compare student assignments with a vast database containing online sources, academic publications and other documents. These tools identify sources that are not referenced and are therefore potentially plagiarised. Human expertise is essential to manage these tools and adjust the results.
Examples of similarity detection software
- Compilatio Magister offers teachers an effective solution for detecting and preventing plagiarism in student work. It allows them to save time, provide fair assessment, encourage academic integrity and promote a culture of intellectual honesty within their educational institution.
- Compilatio Studium allows students to check the referencing of all the sources used in the creation of their writings. This allows them to adjust their bibliographies before the final submission of their work.
Artificial Intelligence represents a revolution in education. Thanks to innovative educational technologies, teachers can benefit from invaluable support in developing their teaching methods. However, it is important to stress that AI does not replace teachers, but supports them in their educational mission. Also, several models can be used to leverage AI technologies: fine tune models can significantly enhance the accuracy of AI algorithms used in educational data analysis.
By using these intelligent tools responsibly and ethically, we can harness the full potential of AI to improve learning and prepare students for a digital future.
Information: this informative article, which does not require any personal reflection, was written in part with the help of ChatGPT. We reworked the automatically-generated content (correcting repetitions, correcting turns of phrase, adding clarifications, adding quotations, checking the veracity of the information, etc.).
