It was a typical Tuesday morning at P.S. 123 in Queens when the principal received an urgent message from the superintendent's office - chatbots had been banned from all New York City public schools.
The principal was surprised and confused by the news. His school had been using chatbots successfully for the past year to help students with homework and answer questions about school policies. They had even started to see an improvement in test scores, as students were able to get help with their work outside of school hours.
After a few days of confusion and uncertainty, it became clear that the ban was not a mistake. The school district had decided that AI was not ready for widespread use in the classroom and that the risks outweighed the benefits.
However, not all New York City public schools agreed with this decision. In fact, a group of schools has come together to reverse the ban and prove that AI can be an asset in education.
One of the main arguments for using AI in education is that it can provide personalized learning experiences for students. This is especially important for students with special needs who may require extra help or attention.
At P.S. 123, the chatbots were programmed to adapt to each student's learning style. They could recognize when a student was struggling with a particular topic and provide additional resources to help. This led to an increase in student engagement and a decrease in frustration levels.
Another benefit of AI in education is that it can help teachers save time. According to a study by the RAND Corporation, teachers in the United States spend an average of 11 hours per week on tasks like grading and lesson planning. This is time that could be better spent on actually teaching and helping students.
With the help of AI, teachers can automate some of these tasks and focus on the areas where they can make the biggest impact. For example, chatbots can grade multiple-choice questions and provide feedback to students instantly. This allows teachers to spend more time on activities like group work and class discussions.
As a former teacher, I have seen firsthand the benefits of using AI in the classroom. I once had a student who was struggling with reading comprehension. No matter how many times we went over a passage together, she couldn't seem to grasp the main idea.
With the help of an AI-powered reading assistant, we were able to identify the student's weak spots and provide targeted interventions. The assistant used natural language processing to understand the student's responses and adjust the difficulty level accordingly. After just a few weeks, the student's comprehension had improved dramatically.
Another teacher I know has started using chatbots to answer common questions from students and parents. She has found that this saves her at least an hour per day in emails and phone calls. This extra time has allowed her to plan more engaging lessons and spend more one-on-one time with her students.
Education
Curated by Team Akash.Mittal.Blog
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