5 Main Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Education

ai in education

How is artificial intelligence revolutionizing education today? 

Although AI has become a buzzword in 2022, it is truly making a huge difference in many areas as you can see from these artificial intelligence trends, with education being one of them. 

AI-powered software is being widely used to improve almost every aspect of the educational process, from administrative duties and teaching to student placement and learning assistance.

According to a US market report, the use of artificial intelligence in education is set to grow by over 47% between 2018 and 2022. This goes on to show how AI is becoming a critical part of modern education activities. 

If you’re unsure about the applications of AI in the education sector, I’ve compiled real-life examples of the use of AI in higher education. 

In this article, we’ll be discussing the main applications of artificial intelligence in education, which you can easily implement at your learning institution. 

Let’s begin. 

1. Intelligent Proctoring for Remote Invigilation 

Cheating is a huge problem in higher education in 2022.

In fact, it gets even worse when you include online examinations, which leave huge rooms for your students to pull one over on your testing system. 

Marshall University surveyed over 635 graduate and undergraduate learners, and 32% of them confessed to using underhand means to pass an online exam. 

Examination cheating occurs in a variety of ways, mostly through content theft and identity fraud.

It is for this reason that AI-based proctoring systems are fast becoming a popular use of AI in online education, as these easily limit cheating loopholes. 

First, using AI-powered facial recognition, an intelligent invigilation system can match your students’ identifiable documents to the person appearing on the webcam. By maintaining an audio-visual connection for the entirety of the session, such an AI-powered tool can verify that the right student is taking the exam.

What’s more, it can then track facial movements and what appears on the end user’s screen during the exam to prevent content theft.

As a great example of the uses of AI in online education proctoring, look no further than Chartered Accountants Ireland. 

The institution carries out over 25,000 exams, and most of them are done online due to limited infrastructure. 

Using a live and remote proctoring system, the accountancy body has been able to ensure exam authenticity and solve its infrastructural challenges by moving more exams online.

2. Content Intelligence for Document Processing

How many students does your school admit? 

Statista estimates that over 15,190,000 students join public high schools every year, with projections showing an expected upward trend in enrollments up to 2029. 

With each new admission, the document management needs of your school grow

Over time, it becomes a tough balancing act to juggle administrative chores and the core business of teaching. That’s why you might want to learn about the use of AI in education and document management, especially when you also consider data protection laws. 

With the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) getting stricter by the day, there’s also massive pressure to ensure your school can avail student records with speed upon request. 

Content intelligence can improve your school’s document management process for better efficiency and compliance. 

An intelligent document processing system can digitize various document formats, thereby eliminating your reliance on poorly searchable filing systems. 

If your documents are already digitized but lie in data silos across legacy systems, a content intelligence platform can scan, extract and convert these files into an easily searchable format.

It can then classify these documents based on your student’s metadata, taking into account variables like course, dates, and geographical metrics. 

Gateway Community College in Leicester is a success story of the uses of AI in higher education and intelligent document management more specifically. 

This learning institution uses a document manager powered by machine learning to effectively manage records for 1,800 students taking over 330 courses. As a result, the college has improved its onboarding processes and achieved GDPR compliance.

3. Predictive Analytics for Better Placement 

How many applications does your institution receive?

According to a 2021 survey by U.S. News featuring more than 1850 learning institutions, universities and colleges received an average of 84,865 applications in the 2020 autumn.

If you’ve ever been part of an admissions committee, then you understand just how involving the admissions process can be and the appeal to channel the use of AI in education admissions. 

The huge volume of applications, coupled with limited intake slots, make it hard for you to consider all data points when assessing applicants.

An ineffective admission process means deserving candidates get overlooked, with cognitive bias also significantly contributing to this problem.

By automating crucial parts of the admission process, these uses of artificial intelligence in education allow schools to reduce admissions work. 

More importantly, predictive analytics can ensure equality for all applicants, making it one of the main applications of AI in education. 

If your school already has an enterprise data management system, predictive analytics help determine good prospective students from your school’s data. This is achieved by considering several variables, including but not limited to: 

  • Academic interests
  • Financial aid
  • Graduation rates

Based on this historical data, your admissions department can better identify students likely to perform well in various degree options.

Taylor University, for instance, leverages the use of AI in higher education analytics to streamline admissions.  

The institution was able to move to a better academic-focused recruitment formula instead of its previously flawed geographical focus. Thanks to predictive modeling which now considers over 60 variables, the institution is able to match slots with candidates more accurately and faster.

4. Virtual Teaching Assistants for Learner Support

How large is your online class? 

The student-to-teacher ratio is 16:1, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). This figure gets even bigger with online classes where there are no infrastructural limitations, allowing hundreds of students to concurrently take the same class. 

Class sizes are rising fast, and packed classrooms are simply being switched for similarly crowded online lessons

With a really big student population, it’s not possible for you to satisfactorily cater to all your learners’ needs. 

Factor in the huge differences in timezones for your diverse learner base, and it can be hard to offer timely support to students when they need assistance with course materials and timed assignments. 

A virtual teaching assistant is an easily scalable use of AI in online education. With it, you can offer timely student support in real-time across the globe. 

Using machine learning, this software trains on a comprehensive database.

This information pool is typically made up of students’ introductory emails and possible question-reply pairings, which are adapted from how you would personally tackle questions from your students.

When you ask the assistant a question, it matches it to the appropriate response to offer an instantaneous answer. Such a program can handle multiple queries simultaneously from dozens of students. 

Georgia Tech introduced an AI-fueled teaching assistant, Jill Watson, which is an excellent example of the uses of AI in online education. 

Today, the course is among the institution’s largest enrollment degrees in terms of class size. Jill Watson has contributed immensely in reducing dropout rates for the program by providing 24/7 student support worldwide. It is one of the most iconic uses of AI in higher education. 

5. Multilingual Software for Inclusive Learning

Does your class consist of an ethnically diverse student body? 

Then you have some first-hand experience with how language barriers can hinder the learning process. It’s a constant battle for your language minority students to keep up, and sadly, most of the time they fall behind and perform poorly in class. 

In fact, UNESCO estimates that 4 in 10 students around the world access education in a language unfamiliar to them, which emphasizes the case for the uses of artificial intelligence in education. 

This has resulted in the need to train teachers in a second dialect in some countries, which is a costly and time-intensive process, to ensure students can be eased into a new learning environment. 

With AI-powered tools like Duolingo, for instance, you can level the playing field for learners from all types of backgrounds thanks to the multilingual applications of AI in education.

It is possible to deliver language proficiency exams, which use machine learning to offer an adaptive testing experience to your learners. In other words, questions vary depending on the answers you provide. 

The algorithm increases grammar complexity if your previous responses were successful. If not, it offers more straightforward queries until you catch up.

Many students around the world are using AI-driven multi-lingual tools to break the language barrier in education.  

The above study tracked 9 students using Duolingo to learn Turkish. It found that these learners enjoyed great learning gains as a result.

Related:
5 Ways Artificial Intelligence Can Help in Project Management in 2023
5 Main Artificial Intelligence Failures you Should Know About

Conclusion 

Are you happy with your educational processes? 

Apparently, only 48% of students are satisfied with their learning experience.

A more inclusive education system may not be possible without tapping into the uses of AI in education. 

Ineffective admission strategies will continue to see deserving students locked out, while manual document management will keep on diverting attention from the core business of education.

Consequently, it’s time to consider these main applications of artificial intelligence in education we’ve looked at today, and borrow inspiration to streamline your own processes. In fact, most digital transformatoin initiatives involve integrating artificial intelligence toools in to the mix.

With the AI-powered uses of AI in education like predictive analytics for admissions and virtual teaching assistants, you can automate repetitive tasks and increase the efficiency of your workflow.   

Lerma Gray

Lerma is our expert in online education with over a decade of experience. Specializing in e-learning and e-courses. She has reviewed several online training courses and enjoys reviewing e-learning platforms for individuals and organizations.

Related Post

OnlineCourseing
Helping you Learn...
Online Courseing is a comprehensive platform dedicated to providing insightful and unbiased reviews of various online courses offered by platforms like Udemy, Coursera, and others. Our goal is to assist learners in making informed decisions about their educational pursuits.
linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram