Once upon a time, long long ago, human teachers made core contributions to the classroom. Teachers used to analyze, synthesize, & apply knowledge. Teachers helped students nurture their critical, cognitive thinking and problem-solving skills. Economists concluded that top teachers made life-long contributions.

Top teachers add $266,000 to a student’s lifetime earnings.

Now, imagine a teacher delivering personalized lessons to an entire classroom of students. Travel back a few years and this sounds like a dream. But with the advancements in AI, the whole education system in UAE is about to change.

UAE appointed Omar Bin Sultan Al Olama as UAE’s minister of state for artificial intelligence. He did some digging and gathered some statistics: $15.7 trillion global market value in 2030. Boosting UAE’s GDP by 35%. Reducing government costs by 50%. 90% resistance from the financial crisis. The next generation of government. In fact, ADEC (Abu Dhabi education department council) is willing to support this cause and invest a reasonable amount in shifting the mundane education system to an AI-based engaging one.

Here is how AI will transform the education system to a new level:

Personalized learning experience

There is a rise in adaptive education systems across UAE. From games to learning programs, AI is changing the way teachers interact with students. The systems can be tailored according to the unique requirements of each student.

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For instance, when MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) finally garnered attention in the online education arena, the breakthrough was enough to engage Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig into launching an online course, “Introduction to Artificial Intelligence”. The course gained instant popularity, and from an initial 58,000, the enrollments surged to 1,60,000. Finally, the former hedge-fund analyst Salman Khan sealed a deal and delivered 201,849,203 lessons, running the gamut from calculus to Mark Rothko’s painting techniques, all leveraging the power of using AI.

Self-adapting, Interactive Media

Interactive media is never a linear medium. When the principles of audio, video, & graphics are applied to the field of education, the learning experience gets personalized, and students are able to retain more data with high-accuracy.

This gives space to teachers & students to interact with each other in a tailored manner. Students can be a part of e-learning programs and distant learning courses which are available online and learn at their own pace.

ADEC is helping teachers offer personalized courses to students who are willing to learn in areas that are not widely available across UAE. The interactive media is actually self-adapting and molds courses based on the needs of individual students.

Computer-assisted Aggregated Learning Systems

Have you ever taken part in an e-learning experience?

If yes, you must already be accustomed to the notion of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Systems. Abbreviated as CSCLS, this tool employs social interaction for education. A tool which started as an experiment formed a gateway for the latest in AI technology in the field of education.

Extending to this, AI is also found helping teachers assess and grade students. It is now possible for teachers to automate grading systems for multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions, making the work easier and saving up on a lot of time.

Although essay grading is still in its infancy, it will soon be able to rise up to its full glory in no-time. This is a clear time-saver for students and teachers to focus on the important stuff and have more interaction even from sitting on their couches.

Data mining in the field of education

ADEC is taking an active part in integrating AI in the field of education. This involves embedding data mining in online learning systems to develop a clear set of instructions. The process is known as educational data mining. On a rudimentary level, analytics can determine when a student will drop a course. And on a more complex level, it can even detect the boredom level of a student from the mouse and key clicks and redirect the student to refocus their attention on the course at hand.

Detecting the room for improvement

AI can also help fill the gaps between students and teachers. The most popular online course provider, Coursera, uses this technology in a highly intuitive manner. Here is what conspires. If a major chunk of students submits a wrong answer to a question, it sends feedback to the teacher, who automatically sends custom hints back to the students to help them get at the right answer.

To end it all

Even though implementing AI has gained massive hype in the recent years, this doesn’t imply that there is no need for a physical teacher in the classroom. In fact, with AI, there is a perfect blend of technology with experience which can come to the benefit of students. However, with brand new implementations out there, the future still holds in the hands of technology to guide the students on the right path, regardless of their geographical location.