How AI in Education Helps School Pupils During COVID-19 Outbreak?

A growing pandemic, over 20% of the world’s population are currently under lockdown in an urgent bid to prevent further spread of COVID-19.

Rapidly spreading, the effects of this virus that started in the Hubei city of Wuhan and is thought to have started in one of the city’s seafood markets, is a virus that spread to all corners of the globe and has left no country unscathed.

In an attempt to curb the spread of this respiratory virus, communities are being begged to remain at home in an attempt to protect both themselves, but also their surrounding communities.

With employees remote working from the comfort of their spare room, students are experiencing education through the use of their laptops and visuals such as video lessons and pre-recorded sessions. 

We will discover how the use of AI is being used within the education sector and its role in helping home school pupils in lockdown during the COVID-19 outbreak. 

Artificial Intelligence in Education 

A growing sector that is beneficial in helping to predict, analyze and conduct tasks to the same standard as that of humans, ai in education has proven to be a useful tool. Part of our everyday lives, many of us are often unaware of the use of AI. From the adverts that we see popping up on our Facebook feed to the parking sensors within our car, ai has also been added to the education system. 

But how is ai in education being used? Previously used to help simplify administration tasks, help to create smart content for the benefits of the pupil, to the development of personalized learning. 

“With the way that we live and communicate continually changing, the use of AI has changed and so has its effects on the education system.”

The Creation of Smart Content

When it comes to how artificial intelligence is being incorporated into the education system, this can be first witnessed through the creation of smart content. Helping to ensure that the highest quality of learning is achieved, through the creation of content by robots, these devices can quickly create and develop content for pupils to use within their lessons. From the use of video lectures, textbooks to video conferencing.

Through the development of digital learning and the ability of robots to quickly create electronic lessons in line with their curriculums, pupils can continue to learn no matter how long the lockdown ends up lasting. 

This drive-in digital learning and the importance of smart content can be seen by large textbook publishers, creating digital versions of their content that can be accessed online at any time. 

AI in Classrooms 

AI with its ever-changing and developing technology can be used and harnessed to help teach pupils in the form of a classroom. Instead of face to face lessons in front of a whiteboard, pupils are sitting at their dining tables watching their lesson through a live or pre-recorded 

presentation. Whether as an individual or a group lesson, through the use of the latest technology and communication software, students are able to freely communicate whether to ask and answer any questions on the lesson that they have.

This change in how the education system is adapting to keep up with the current laws and lockdowns in place in multiple countries can be seen in the latest figure of students attempting to learn at home online released by The International School of Monza.

“A recent study shows that there are currently over 1.5 billion students out of school, while hundreds of millions of students have taken to attempting to continue their education through the use of the internet.”

While allowing them to continue with their education, the use of the internet has given pupils the opportunity to continue with a form of routine, with ai in education playing a vital role. 

Personalization of Lessons 

While the use of ai in education is allowing pupils to continue their education and communicate with both teachers and fellow pupils, the use of artificial intelligence could prove to be beneficial in adjusting the way that pupils learn forever. 

Not just helping pupils to continue with the curriculum, AI can also change and offer a more personalized experience for each child. This form of personalized learning is created through the machine learning power that is hyper-personalization, these systems created through the rise of AI, are able to create material best suited to the child’s ability.

This it can do by analyzing the child’s understanding, their preferred method of learning and also their experience, all of which have been previously programmed into the device. No longer are pupils having to sit in a class of 20+ other children, instead, they can receive a unique and more personalized form of education that can allow them to flourish through the ability to learn to their specific needs. 

Allowing the pupils to take ownership of their education, they can dive deeper into their lessons and gain a further understanding of the topic that they are studying. Helping to create a passion and determine to achieve through the results that they can witness in their education.

This ability to offer a one to one tutorial can also help to cut down on training costs and ai, this is due to the ability to directly educate and tutor the child, offering the best package for their needs. In turn, cutting down on the time and the sources used to teach the entire class. 

Fairness in Education 

Another benefit to ai in education and that is the ability to fairly and impartially teach pupils all the same. With pupils receiving the same material when in classrooms, students who otherwise might have struggled to learn within a classroom environment may thrive and flourish working alone from the comfort of their laptop screen. This fairness in education can be seen as giving the students a fair chance to push themselves while using the available materials to help develop their understanding of the lesson at hand. 

For education to be fair, however, this key point would assume that all pupils have the same access to technology as the other pupils. Along with the use of a device to access this smart material, pupils need a secure and safe internet connection, as well as, a designated area to concentrate and study in. This is something that is looking unachievable the longer the epidemic continues. As more and more parents are made redundant and are unable to afford the cost of the latest technology for their children’s education. 

Global Education 

Gone are the days of limitations in education. No longer are pupils stuck to the confinements of learning from just one teacher within their classroom. Instead, pupils can learn and develop their knowledge from a large range of experienced teachers from across the world.

Along with being able to broaden and expand their horizons, this experience, and ability in being able to learn from teachers that otherwise would have been inaccessible means that they can receive a valuable education all through the rise of AI.

This added benefit of AI and education has been born through the rise of technology and its ability to allow students from any timezone to access the same information through the rise in IT developments. 

Conclusion 

As covered within this blog, the many ways that AI are helping to educate pupils who are at home in lockdown during the COVID-19 outbreak. A global crisis that is not disappearing any time soon, when it comes to continuing to educate and prepare our children, encompassing and fully using this technology is paramount in allowing them to continue to thrive. Keeping them learning and developing during the lockdown, the growing technology that is AI can in fact nature our children for the better.

“The use of AI can be used to offer a personalized, and a fairer form of education with the use of teachers from around the world.”

This can be a beneficial and useful experience that without, would otherwise not have been experienced. When it comes to life during the lockdown of coronavirus continuing and making do is often recommended, but when it comes to education, this is an area where the correct tools available can help thrive and develop our children. 

With the effects of this virus on not just our communities, our markets, but also our livelihoods not yet fully aware, what is apparent, is the benefits that AI has had on the education system and how it has altered and developed the system for the better.

Also, Read How Artificial Intelligence Transforming Education