Education has not had a make-over in over a century. Some schools still advocate for factory-style instruction. Bureaucratic red tape and top-down initiatives consume teachers’ time, leaving little left for instruction.

No industry is more ready for a revolution than education.

The fourth revolution in education is here, and it’s called artificial intelligence. AI is taking schools and classrooms by storm as educators welcome AI with open arms. Artificial intelligence has the potential to change education for the better.

Real-time analytics

Already AI is at work in many classrooms in the United States. Schools regularly rely on learning management systems to evaluate, aggregate, and analyze student data for improving achievement at all levels.

Artificial intelligence does so much more.

Administrators and teachers can rely on content-monitoring AI software that alerts them to flagged internet searches. By monitoring the sites student search, educators can step in if students are seeking to harm others or themselves. Artificial intelligence does the time-consuming work that teachers cannot do in their classrooms.

With artificial intelligence monitoring, there is less off-task behavior. Ultimately, AI places the focus back on classroom instruction and engagement, where it should be.

Authentic synergy in the classroom

Some teachers worry that they’ll lose their jobs when AI takes over classroom instruction. Advanced technology is pushing them out the door, they say. Nothing could be further from the truth.

While it is true that AI will automate and direct many of the learning activities and teacher tasks in classrooms, students will still need their teachers to instruct them in social skills and other human characteristics that AI cannot reproduce or imitate.

The teacher will still be in charge of the classroom, orchestrating learning and optimizing programs to help every student.  AI offers the ability to customize one-on-one instruction in a way that no teacher can do alone.

Personalized learning programs that use artificial intelligence captivate and engage students in ways that whole class or small group instruction cannot. The learning is individualized, designed to meet students where they are and provide exactly what they need when they need it.

AI teaching and learning creates an authentic synergic that will bring out the best in students and their teachers.

The time for a revolution in education is now

Mass education isn’t as effective as it was once thought to be. British historian and political researcher Anthony Seldon believes that AI has transformative powers in the arena of education.

The education revolution will focus on three areas in particular:

·      Mindfulness. It is impossible to teach everything, so what is included in the curriculum must be about more than content. Learning must be mindful, and programs must teach thinking instead of knowledge.

·      Personalization. The days of one-size-fits-all curriculum are over. A curriculum can and should be customized for every student based on individual need.

·      Collaboration. Using AI as a tool for a revolution in education requires that the administration, teachers, and unions work together to re-invent what school looks like, how it operates, and what it does for students.

According to Sheldon, the greatest danger lies in failing to incorporate artificial intelligence in schools now. Other industries have already embraced AI.

Artificial intelligence is altering the education landscape in ways that many other initiatives haven’t been able to do. If you’re looking to make a difference in education, you’re probably going to do it with artificial intelligence.