The Golden Grail of Education at Your Fingertips
Education has been criticised for its inability to adapt to students for years. Each student is expected to memorise standardised material and reproduce it on a standardised test. A popular saying is that "we're teaching fish to fly." After all, every student has their own style of learning and exploring the world. From an administrative perspective, filtering everyone through a single filter previously seemed like the only option. At the same time, we live in a time when any teacher thoroughly trained in AI tools can personalise the learning process. Such a teacher can create an AI assistant whose role is to generate exercises that allow children and young people to work in a way that aligns with their learning style. Consequently, students have an opportunity not only to learn faster but also to find more joy along the way. At the same time, for teachers to to be able to independently create assistants to support them in their work, two things are necessary: access to appropriate AI tools and training in their use.
Both issues are problematic. At the same time, these are not challenges that a proactive school principal cannot address. It's worth fighting for, because research shows that children who learn in a way that meets their individual needs achieve 30% better academic results. Perhaps even more importantly, 45% more students feel engaged and motivated thanks to such an approach.
Does AI “de-brain students and teachers”?
A study conducted by MIT Media Lab shocked the world when it showed that people who use AI to complete a task engage their brains significantly less. Due to the fact that the message evoked such strong emotions, it became exceptionally popular. Few have noticed that the study hadn't yet been assessed for reliability by other researchers (as is standard in the scientific world), and that, as the authors themselves point out, the study was limited to the narrow context of writing an essay. Moreover, only 54 people were examined, making it difficult to generalise the study's conclusions. At the same time, even if we assume that using AI to complete a task prevents our brains from developing as well as they could, we should think what we can do about it. Over the past summer, large language models like ChatGPT have been equipped with a mode that encourages learning. If their user selects this mode, the AI becomes a mentor, whose role is to guide the student toward the answer, but the student does the work. The AI becomes merely a guidepost that navigates. A teacher who is always at hand. One who is not ashamed to ask a question.
What can AI do for students today?
AI is beginning to be used by educators as a remote teaching assistant. If a person needs to speak with a native speaker of the language they learn to develop their skills, this situation carries costs. If a person communicates with artificial intelligence to help them learn a language, the costs of learning decrease dramatically. In Poland, leaders in the use of learning bots include CampusAI, which teaches AI through conversation with AI, and the Spikacz tool, owned by the Polish company Quest for English, which allows for language learning through conversation with AI. It's crucial not to lose sight of the human role in the pursuit of technology – because the best results are achieved when paired with a competent teacher supported by an intelligent AI assistant.
For more AI-related content, please visit:: Instagram: dominik.skowronski.ai and YouTube: Dominik Skowroński – Napędź biznes z AI [Dominik Skowroński – Drive your business with AI].
Author: Dr Dominik Skowroński
