AI in EdTech: A Helping Hand or a Teacher Replacement? AI in education enhances both teaching and learning by providing personalized learning experiences, automating administrative tasks, and offering 24/7 student support. While AI tools make education more efficient and accessible, they complement rather than replace teachers, preserving the critical human element in fostering creativity, emotional development, and critical thinking

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education has increased exponentially and is continuing to become an important part of classrooms worldwide. The Global AI in education market was valued at a mere $1.8 billion in 2021 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 36% until 2030, highlighting the demand for such technology.

Innovation in Education

These days, various tools and platforms exist that aim to impact education through AI. Adaptive Learning Systems use AI algorithms to personalise content to match a student's learning pace and style. AI-powered education tools provide round-the-clock support to students, providing instant feedback and assistance, thereby helping them understand difficult concepts outside classroom hours. Another emerging and powerful tool is Predictive analytics. This enables teachers to identify at-risk students early and curate interventions that improve their outcomes. Every student is unique and their learning capabilities differ as well. AI-based coaching applications offer affordable and personalised preparation to students. These platforms use AI/ML to analyse student performance and suggest tailored study and practice materials, enhancing learning outcomes. Along with this, AI can also help students prepare for interviews by conducting mock interviews. These technologies transform how students learn, and teachers teach, creating more efficient, dynamic, and responsive learning environments.

Day-to-Day Instances of AI Helping Teachers and Potential Use Cases

AI is being integrated into the daily lives of teachers, making their jobs easier and more efficient. In a survey by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), educators reported that AI tools have helped them better understand their students' needs and tailor their instructions accordingly. By using technology, teachers can curate curriculum and design course content that is elaborate and customised to suit the needs of their students. AI tools can also aid teachers in covering up certain skills that they might lack. For example, a teacher who excels in lecturing but may lack skills in creating visual aids can use AI to convert their voice into text, which can then be automatically turned into PowerPoint presentations or other multimedia formats. AI can also help teachers curate monthly curricula. By doing so, teachers can save time and ensure the quality and consistency of the teaching materials.

In an offline learning environment, by installing cameras with facial recognition, AI can analyse the students' emotions, which can help teachers gauge the effectiveness of their teaching. This also helps in determining if students are going through any emotional stress (as any emotional stress typically gets reflected in their facial expressions).

By taking over tasks like grading and attendance tracking, AI has allowed teachers to invest more time in personally interacting with students and better understanding them. This also enables teachers to provide a better learning experience that aligns with students' capabilities.

In many schools, teachers are also tasked with certain administrative tasks like admission support, invoicing, etc. AI can be used to take over these tasks freeing up teachers to focus more on their core skills of teaching. For instance, AI can transform the admission process, making it more efficient by automating student evaluations and selection criteria. AI that handles invoicing and payment tracking can make a time-consuming task like fee processing faster and with reduced errors.

Teacher Professional Development (TPD)

To stay updated with the constantly evolving world of technology, institutions need to invest in TPD. There are various platforms that help teachers improve their skills through self-paced online learning, peer-to-peer collaboration, Interactive Solutions, and VR. By using data analytics and AI, platforms can design customised learning paths for teachers that make their development journey more effective.

Democratising Education Through AI

An important aspect of AI in education is its potential to democratise education. It enables AI-driven platforms to provide quality education to a larger pool of students by overcoming geographical and socio-economical barriers. Students in rural areas, who don't have access to quality teachers can now rely on AI tools to provide them with relevant information and study material. They have a personal AI tutor available to them, which can assist them 24x7. This eliminates a major barrier of limited availability of human teacher. Furthermore, in a country like India which has multiple languages, it has become possible for us to provide educational content in the language preferred by the student, through AI. Content curation in vernacular languages takes time and AI has enabled platforms to expedite this process. According to the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence report by NITI Aayog, AI has the potential to bridge the educational divide in India by providing students with tailored learning resources, regardless of their background.

Instances of Successful AI Implementation in Education

• Georgia Institute of Technology (USA) used AI to solve the challenge of providing prompt, effective assistance and feedback to large classes with limited staff. They implemented an AI-powered teaching assistant to address common queries and provide input, allowing the staff to exclusively handle more complex queries.
• University of Alicante (Spain) used AI to improve accessibility to the campus and learning materials for visually impaired students. They created an AI-powered application that uses computer vision and machine learning to help these students navigate the campus independently by narrating objects, texts, and other elements in the environment.
• New Town High School (Australia) used AI to solve their challenge of enhancing engagement and learning outcomes in STEM subjects. They created an AI-driven platform by using machine learning to tailor math education to each student's learning pace and style. The platform continuously accesses the student's progress and adjusts content accordingly, providing personalised modules and real-time feedback. This led to a noticeable improvement in student's performance in maths. This also helped teachers identify and address individual learning gaps, making their interventions more timely and relevant.

The Future of the Relation Between AI and Teachers

AI will continue to play a significant role in education in the future and one needs to make sure that technology is used responsibly. Teachers have been using it to recalibrate their thinking and teaching approach. However, no matter the advancements in this technology, AI will always remain a support system and will not replace a teacher. There is no replacement for human elements such as emotional intelligence and human interaction in teaching. They are vital for fostering critical thinking, creativity, and emotional development in students. Teachers, for their part, need to stay updated with the latest AI technologies and implement these tools to make learning an enjoyable experience for their students.