4 Ways In Which Machine Learning Will Transform eLearning

By Philip Piletic, October 14, 2018, 4 minutes to read

ELEARNING TRENDS

Ever since the packet switching network known as ARPANET was demilitarized
and turned over to academic researchers in the late 1970s, the fields of
Information Technology and education have crossed paths and formed
partnerships for the benefit and improvement of society. The activities we know
as eLearning and online education today will become the standards of academic
instruction tomorrow, and the manner courses are delivered will be determined
by Artificial Intelligence.

Before discussing how AI technology will shape eLearning in the near future, it
helps to review some of the ways IT and education have intersected until now:

 Experiential learning
This was one of the first educational enhancements achieved by
technology in the classroom. A couple of decades ago, flight simulation
software helped students understand avionics and instrumentation;
these days, students use Virtual Reality headsets for an even more
realistic flight experience. In other words, technology makes it easier to
design a curriculum that favors "learning by doing".
 Access to extensive educational resources
Online encyclopedias, internet libraries, Massively Online Open Courses
(MOOCs), and educational social networks are just some of the many
resources students can access today.
 Online tutoring
Soon after messaging and video conferencing apps, such as Skype,
came on the market, one-on-one tutoring sessions became popular.
These days, internet tutoring networks offer everything from foreign
language learning to musical instruction, and from math practice to
engineering discussion.
  Academic connectivity
ARPANET, the interconnected computing platform that preceded the
internet, was originally utilized to allow remote collaboration between
university research departments. These days, classrooms in Iowa can
connect to sister classrooms in Belize for the purpose of exchanging
cultural knowledge and promoting a more diverse worldview.
The technological advances listed above have unfolded over four decades;
academic researchers believe that the next wave of tech progress in education
will involve machine learning and other fields of AI development. The first ripples
of this wave are already here, and they involve algorithms and natural language
processing. Botsify, for example, is a smart chatbot platform designed specifically
for the education sector, but this is only the beginning. Here are some of the
ways AI and machine learning are shaping the future of eLearning:

1. Advanced Grading And Measurement

Automated test scoring and grading has been in use for some time in the form of
optical recognition. The same can be said about eLearning courses that feature
online tests graded upon completion, but the integration of AI
technology complements grading with smart assessments that teachers can
utilize for two purposes: adjust classroom work for maximum efficiency and
recommend individual tutoring. AI linguistic developers are currently working on
algorithms and machine learning constructs that could soon review and score
written assignments, such as essays.

2. Creating A Comprehensive Curriculum

Deep learning is an advanced form of machine learning that is already being

used in the legal field to review documents and court cases; the objective is to
make software smarter so that it can recommend lawsuits and other legal
strategies. A similar approach is being applied in the education sector for the
purpose of developing course material that can be incorporated into a
comprehensive learning curriculum. One example would be designing a
curriculum for students pursuing technical writing courses; in this case, the works
of Joseph Chapline, author of manuals for the UNIVAC computer, would be
added to the study materials. The aforementioned advanced grading tools can
also serve as a guide in comprehensive curriculum design.

3. Crowdsourced Learning

There is no question that Wikipedia has been one of the most successful
developments of the Information Age, and its concept of crowdsourced
knowledge sharing and collaboration is being augmented with AI technology.
Brainly is an educational question-and-answer platform similar to the Quora
social network; however, a machine learning layer within the platform has been
developed to act as a moderator, filter spam, assign the quality to the content,
and structure answers. In a few years, Brainly will be able to provide automated
answers to certain questions; this concept would be similar to the answers being
provided today by the Google search engine, but geared towards primary and
secondary education.

4. Smart Learning Software

The success of the Jumpstart learning software for children between the ages of
three and eight is prompting AI developers to make the applications smarter. The
next wave of eLearning software being developed today features machine
learning constructs that are monitoring the way students navigate programs,
their reactions, and their proficiency; in other words, AI routines are learning at
the same time children are learning, and the goal is to develop future apps that
will be even more efficient than they are today. Naturally, the eLearning software
of the future will not only be developed with AI technology, but also delivered
through cloud computing platforms.

In the end, the implementation of AI technology into eLearning will help all
stakeholders, from teachers to students and from parents to communities, to
benefit from a more effective educational infrastructure, but there are loftier
goals being pursued. The reality of the 21st century is that 50% of the global
population does not have access to comprehensive education, and this will be
the next task for AI developers to focus on.