To continue with my automation theme, let’s look at AI and the future of education.
Most of us don’t know what tomorrow’s classroom will look like, but tech trends are already pointing the way.
Let’s look at five of them:
1. Blended learning will become the norm.
One common tech trend in education is blending online and offline learning.
Today, a blended approach means things like online textbooks, assignments, and discussion boards.
Tomorrow, it could mean chatbot tutors, on-demand micro-lectures, and VR classrooms.
2. Personalization will enter the classroom.
We’ve already seen how AI drives personalized learning in business.
But it’s also being tested in schools.
Imagine a program that adapts lesson content to each student’s needs.
Faster students are offered more advanced material.
And those that need more help can get it.
Software will be able to monitor student progress, estimate a learners’ understanding, and provide guidance when needed.
Personalized learning has been shown to get better results than traditional classroom teaching styles.
3. AI will grade, score, and choose your kids’ schools.
Will an AI choose which school your child attends?
These systems already exist.
Unified enrollment (UE) systems use a variety of factors to place children in optimal schools — family preferences, location, school priorities, and so on.
4. Get ready for robo-teachers and AI tutors.
Today, online language teaching is common.
But according to AI Superpowers, by Kai-Fu Lee, AI can be trained to help Chinese students with their English pronunciation — no native speakers needed.
What happens when AI produces language as well as humans? Will we even need teachers?
Oh, wait.
We’ve already passed that milestone.
5. Big Brother will monitor, analyze, and oversee students … at least in China.
For the Chinese education system, robo-tutors are just the beginning.
They have also unveiled a student surveillance system.
It tracks student emotions and monitors certain types of behavior — reading, writing, hand-raising, standing up, listening to the teacher, and leaning on the desk.
One student’s response to this setup: “I don’t dare be distracted … it’s like a pair of mystery eyes are constantly watching me.”
Conclusion: The Future of Education Is AI
Previously, we’ve looked at how AI is impacting copywriting.
And now we’ve seen how AI will impact the future of education.
Clearly, AI will disrupt the structure of the entire world.
Job automation is the hot topic for today.
However, the final point mentioned here points to far graver concerns.
Do we really want a centralized AI “teaching” and watching our kids at all times?
In an education system like that, I think it will be very difficult for kids to learn the most important human mental skills of all…
…the one that separates us from machines, both philosophically and in the job market…
…critical thinking, reasoning, and thinking.
