How can AI and data personalize the higher education sector

How can AI and data personalize the higher education sector?

How can AI and data personalize the higher education sector?

Artificial intelligence is playing an important role in the rapidly changing and improving ways in which industries such as healthcare, banking, energy and retail operate.

Artificial intelligence is playing an important role in the rapidly changing and improving ways in which industries operate, such as healthcare, banking, energy and retail. However, there is one sector in particular that offers enormous potential for the application of AI technologies, namely education, where the opportunities and challenges that the introduction of AI in higher education can present are important.

Personalizing learning is the cornerstone.

Today's colleges and universities face a wide range of challenges, including low student engagement in education, high dropout rates, and the ineffectiveness of the traditional "Moh-D" approach to education. But using big data analytics and AI correctly enables us to create personalized learning experiences, which helps solve some of these challenges.

Personalizing learning experiences will enable students to enjoy a unique learning approach tailored entirely to students' abilities and individual needs, which may directly motivate students and reduce the likelihood of dropping out, as well as providing university professors with a better understanding of each student's learning process, enabling them to teach more effectively. Here's what this experience might look like: AI-based learning systems will be able to provide university professors with useful information about students' learning styles, abilities, and progress, and make suggestions on how to customize teaching methods to meet individual student needs. For example, some students may experience learning difficulties or challenges that require more attention or tutoring to keep up with progress. Others may progress very quickly without any mental problems and benefit from additional subjects or assignments. The AI learning systems in both of these hypothetical scenarios will help students reach their full potential and may prevent them from dropping out of school by identifying problems early, enabling appropriate corrective action to be taken.

But big data may be needed to train this AI-based education system in order to provide us with the desired benefit. As we will discuss in this article, that data must be used ethically, and students will need to be informed about how their personal data is shared and used by AI algorithms.

Personal data will be the main component.

Applying AI and personalized learning may seem like an ideal solution to some of the most common educational problems in theory. However, technology still has a long way to go before it can fully realize its potential.

Student data is an essential component of personalized learning. My personal experience lecturing at universities around the world has shown that today's students are more protective of their data privacy than previous generations, likely due to the security breaches and data scandals they have already experienced. However, if student data can be collected and processed in an ethical, secure and transparent manner, we will be able to use AI to improve the effectiveness of each field of study.

One promising initiative in this direction comes from My Data (MyData.org), an international non-profit organization whose mission is to enhance the control and privacy of personal data. My Data, a global movement, aims to give users more control over the personal data they choose to share with artificial intelligence systems.

Use chatbots to provide personalized assistance and guidance.

The University of Murcia in Spain recently began testing an AI-based chatbot to answer students' questions about campus and fields of study. As the use of this chatbot expanded, school officials were surprised to discover that it was able to answer more than 38,708 questions, and correctly answer more than 91% of the questions. Not only was this chatbot able to provide instant answers to students outside of official business hours, but university officials also found that it increased student motivation. All these benefits have been achieved without the need to change the staff structure.

One of the added advantages of having chatbots in universities to answer students' questions involves the large volume of big data the robot will receive regarding students' concerns and areas of interest. This data can be analyzed to help enable universities to create new and innovative services and programs to further improve students' educational experiences.

Many other universities have also begun testing a chatbot app to perform repetitive tasks that typically require a professor or faculty member to perform, such as providing answers to common questions to students. Staffordshire University in the UK and Georgia Tech in the US have deployed chatbots that provide a service that answers students' most frequently asked questions throughout the day, seven days a week.

These tests confirmed that many repetitive and routine tasks can benefit from the help of AI-based systems, allowing teachers more time to focus on their students' education or participate in research.

Universities should also consider introducing chatbots and virtual assistants that can help students manage their mental health to reduce stress and encourage them to study. An example of this tool is the AI-based Woebot chatbot that is designed to help users recognize their emotions through "intelligent mood tracking of mood swings." At a time when many of the university's health systems are operating at full capacity, and students are exposed to long waiting times for mental health counseling on campus, chatbots can provide some immediate relief. Universities will have to be very careful in protecting students' personal data and will need some level of human oversight to monitor the advice chatbots give to students.

Important challenges looming

Universities are likely to find many challenges to be solved as they begin to apply AI to various processes. Perhaps the most important point that educational institutions must address is how to better prepare students for the new world based on technology and the many disruptive technologies that will change the way people work.

It is essential that students understand that repetitive and routine tasks will be automated and performed by artificial intelligence, automation and robotics over time. However, there will always be roles that require creative skills, cognitive skills, and emotional intelligence skills. Many universities around the world are currently failing to teach students the kinds of skills necessary in their future careers.

As AI is applied to education, the best results will come from combining AI's strengths with human capabilities. There will not be a time when we dispense with human beings to perform tasks related to education, of course, but teachers will continue to play an important role in our society, and we must not underestimate the value of human interaction and critical thinking in the field of education.

Although algorithms may be useful in guiding decisions, not all educational activities should be managed by robots and algorithms but should instead take advantage of the help provided by AI algorithms to support the creation of ideal learning environments. For example, AI-based learning systems will be excellent tools for teaching rules-based subjects such as foreign languages and mathematics. AI systems can significantly enhance learning by providing greater accuracy and constructive feedback and allow students to spend time repeating study exercises as many times as necessary. However, the teacher will still be needed to help explain what students don't understand, such as nuances and exceptions in grammar, or how to apply mathematical formulas to solve problems. The role of a professor is to guide, support, guide and help students understand what they have learned, its significance and how to apply it in the real world.

The final major challenge in implementing AI involves monitoring data use, as there are difficult and important decisions to be made at every level of society about the ownership of data, and about the best ways to use it transparently and ethically.

Although AI offers many exciting advances, particularly in improving education around the world, we are still in the process of discovering its potential. Further trials and research are needed to successfully apply AI tools in all higher education institutions.

Personally, I encourage more university leaders and administrators to be proactive in starting pilot programs to test the use of AI in different ways, taking into account the ethical outcomes and obligations that must be met throughout this educational experience. Students should also learn how algorithms use data to make their decisions and should be invited to add and encourage their input into the design and development of AI systems. Most of all, students should stay informed about how their data is being used.