How intelligent are you? Artificial intelligence, of course with enormous help from the human brain, will be able to tell you. This ability to be spot on in measuring abstract things like intelligence, be it emotional or academic, is one of the awesome aspects of artificial intelligence that eases the tedious and sometimes near to impossible task of determining which student should be placed where based on their ability. Wonderful penetrations have been made in various areas of education making more skills accessible to a more generous spectrum of learners. Take for instance a Microsoft application, ‘Presentation Translator’, which can relay information to hearing impaired individuals by recording what is being spokenby the teacher as subtitles on their display screens or on their phones. They can then read it as it is being spoken and also answer by typing back using that free application on their smartphones! For the visually impaired learners, the ‘Seeing AI’ application enables one to ‘see’ their environment by describing a photo that has been shot with a camera that has the application. Will teaching become one of the obsolete professions as a result of this artificial intelligence? Fear not teachers, as this is far from likely. Teaching and learning are predominately a social process, which involves the ability to think about how one is learning, correct one’s self, decide how to approach a task and solve problems. Chris Brinton, the head of research at Zoomi, an AI company explains; The algorithms driving AI can be trained to detect when a learner is struggling and what caused them to struggle, or when they are bored and what caused their boredom, he says. Well, as they can tell the emotions, applications based on artificial intelligence are feeling less. Being able to make choices depending on the mood and the prevailing situation is still a human ability which is a much needed aspect in the teaching process. It is crucial not to regard artificial intelligence as just making learning more digital. There is more to it. The value that it adds to the students’ data, teachers’ assessment procedure and teaching processes as well as insightful feedback are priceless. If appropriately embraced, teachers will continue to initiate and control the learning process with the expert help of artificial intelligence, thus making teaching and learning a more rewarding experience.Hurray, the future of teaching looks rosy.
