Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Education

For the last 100+ years, our education system has functioned without much innovation! It is mostly centered around a curriculum conveyed by direct instruction from a teacher who may or may not be effective, and with class sizes that are not conducive to one-on-one assistance. In a diverse environment where students require differentiated instruction based on their learning styles, this model is subpar.

In the last 30 years, the only innovations have been in the technology used to view content. For instance, we went from overhead projectors to digital projectors, and outlines are conveyed through PowerPoint-style slides. Graphic design, videography, and photography have upgraded to digital and Adobe-type programs. Yearbooks are now designed online, and grading is done via apps like PowerSchool. Google has created many educational tools for teachers to utilize, such as Slides, Sites, and the ability to create tutorial videos on YouTube that can be translated into most languages.

Given all of these tools, the structure of classes is still the same: one teacher delivering instruction to 35+ students, usually verbally with visual aids. Even with all of these tools at our disposal, only a small handful of teachers are utilizing them to the fullest. In my experience, tutorial videos are the best new technology to augment instruction. Any student can stop, rewind, and translate any lesson without the anxiety of trying to follow a teacher’s instruction in real-time. Unfortunately, it takes work to create tutorial videos, and most teachers do not put in the effort.

Districts usually adopt curricula created by giants like Pearson and McGraw Hill, who profit hugely by new changes in federal and state standards. Each time the government changes educational standards, these curriculum giants hurry to create new textbooks and materials that align with the new standards. Districts then spend massive amounts of money to buy and adopt the curriculum so they are in compliance with the new standards. Districts then pay stipends to teachers who go over the materials and teach them to the rest of their staff. The vast majority of these new lessons get shelved by teachers who already have their preferred methods and don’t feel like adhering to the latest standard, knowing it will change in another 5 years.

In the midst of the current educational environment is the introduction of smartphones, social media, mobile games, and video. Each student has one of these devices that are solely designed to be useful and grab the attention of the user. Students in schools are struggling to pull their attention away from these devices, and apps are quickly becoming more and more addictive. Teachers are now having to compete with these devices for student attention. Lately, this has become a losing battle, and most teachers are not equipped with the curriculum design that can compete with the draw of these apps.

In the last several months, tools like Chat GPT and MidJourney have added another layer of complexity for educators. Students can now easily employ these tools to write papers as well as create visual content, both of which could be potential positives. These new AI tools are here to stay and will only become more advanced. My view is that schools need to find ways to integrate with them or they will become fossils. We are at an inflection point in the world of education, and districts don’t seem to be adapting at a reasonable rate.

AI’s Role in Education (Predictions & Ideas)

The same algorithms that learn the best ways to advertise and keep people glued to their screens could be employed for educational purposes. AI-designed educational tools can be created alongside learning algorithms that collect data to guide the most optimal way an individual learns—auditorily, visually, tactilely, or a combination. Psychological profiling question data can be utilized to pinpoint a student’s optimal learning strategy, and lessons could be catered to these strategies. The more a student engages, the smarter the AI becomes at optimizing and catering lessons to that individual.

At first, lessons will likely be created by humans, but eventually, AI systems will create curriculums and strategies that are superior to human-created lessons. In public districts, test scores are the measure of success, and schools are motivated by these numbers. If new systems raise test scores, they will be adopted as long as there is minimal responsibility on districts to begin with, and a narrative they can get behind.

COVID showed us that kids need a school environment for its social benefits, sports, and hands-on subjects like cooking, ceramics, photography, woodworking, 3D printing, laser cutting, and science experiments. AI learning tools with corresponding materials could take students step by step through the content. Teachers will merely be there to encourage, give one-on-one instruction, manage behaviors, and ensure safe environments. My hope is that school spirit, sports, social events, and academic competitions will endure alongside the AI curriculum systems.

I see two scenarios playing out: AI educational models that integrate into the existing system, and the creation of independent schooling models with their own accreditation that competes with existing schools.

In the beginning, teachers will be threatened by this new technology because it will question their relevance. Narratives will emerge attempting to discourage the adoption of them. Some parents will likely pull their kids out of school and homeschool them using this technology. Some innovative hybrid models could emerge. Maybe like ride-sharing, a group of 30 parents in a one-mile radius team up, and each parent takes turns hosting a teaching day at their house with all 30 students. There could also be incentives and mechanisms built into apps that foster meetups for academic competitions or think tanks for more social interaction. If schooling is better and cheaper, parents and students will adopt it.

Accreditation

Accreditation is one aspect that will be challenging and also key to the mass adoption of independent AI-based online schools. Presently, state and private schools, community colleges, and universities both online and physical have accreditations that everyone currently accepts as proof of a proficient education. The more students in a district, the more money the district gets, and those numbers are the most important thing in a school budget. Keeping students enrolled in the school is a main focus of administrators. Money flows from state funding in general education, and money for CTE (career and technical education) comes from the federal Perkins fund. (One side note is that as of this year, the federal Perkins fund money allocated to individual districts is dependent on the school districts adhering to their standards.) Once money is allocated to a district, it funnels to the individual schools based on enrollment numbers.

Accreditation for AI learning systems will be a next step in education and one of the hardest hurdles to jump because it could disrupt current educational models and enrollment numbers in public schools. People in charge of stamping new accreditations are likely connected to the current system and could be an unexpected barrier to entry. Social acceptance of these new schooling models will be very important, and marketing strategies towards this goal should be carefully considered.

If charter school status is obtained, it would give several options: In the public system, the state pays a specified amount to schools per student. If you have charter school status, you can take in public school students, and that money allocates to your school. Another potential option could be remote charter schools, which have the potential to absorb a great deal of the state money.

Gaming & Incentives

If education is to win the attention of students, there will need to be incentives that they value. Educational “play to earn” games as well as “learn to earn” systems have the potential to capture their attention. Tokenized systems designed by humans or AI models could be an effective tool in motivating students to engage in lessons, generating effort into competitive academic events, and building stronger social communities. One option is to create tokens that are redeemable as tuition units that they can spend on higher education. There could be a network of online schools with accreditation that accept these tokens as tuition. They will be incentivized to accept these tokens as tuition because students who take their courses will produce valuable data to optimize their own systems. They can also charge recruiting fees for companies.

Recruiting

Right now, schools are the incubators for professional sports. Why are schools not incubators for recruiting academic talent early? As a teacher, I could point out many students who are going to be highly successful in certain areas. If the AI systems can produce data sets that pinpoint ideal candidates for specific careers, companies could use it to recruit right out of high school. This would benefit both the student and the company. This system is another layer of incentive to motivate students and help them find the right path.

Minimizing Bureaucracy

Schools are bureaucracies to the core. Making changes in these systems is extremely difficult. To effectively integrate new technologies into existing systems, it is essential to create a long-term plan that introduces AI tools incrementally and deliberately. Minimizing bureaucracy in new educational models is an aspect that should be considered in new designs because it degrades systems over time. DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations) in conjunction with smart contracts could be a viable solution for a decentralized schooling model that minimizes bureaucracy.

Education for citizens in any area is a key component of any successful population. The more educated it is, the more it thrives. Building a system that gathers data strategically for optimal curriculum creation and delivery, retains the attention of participants, motivates and incentivizes learning, fosters social interaction, and has a built-in pipeline connecting talents with careers that need them will strengthen a population and create positive future growth. Artificial intelligence systems, especially ones not yet invented, could prove to be extremely useful and integral to the future of education.

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