3 EdTech Challenges & How AI Can Help Solve Them3 min read
Reading Time: 3 minutes2020 was the year that changed everything for EdTech. The rapid adoption of technology spurred by teachers, parents, and students in the wake of the pandemic has resulted in a number of innovations in the sphere. However, EdTech continues to face unique challenges. Especially when it comes to recreating the classroom experience.
Here are 3 of the biggest challenges that EdTech players face – especially in the K-12 segment. And how AI can help solve them:
Student-Teacher Interactions
Student-teacher interactions are an integral part of the classroom experience. However, these interactions are very different on an online platform. Educators must now pick up on non-verbal cues to understand how each student is progressing with their curriculum. This makes it one of the biggest challenges faced by EdTech providers — especially when attempted at scale.
How AI Can Help:
AI can build rich student profiles based on behavioral & engagement data. This will help educators understand students in a holistic manner and in context with their curriculum. AI-powered student profiles aren’t merely based on data that’s been extracted. The model takes into account a number of signals — such as time spent on specific subjects/topics, engagement across course formats, clicks and saves of course material, and more – to give educators a 360° view of their students.
Every student is unique, as are their strengths, weaknesses, preferences, and interests. AI-enriched student profiles allow educators to scale a time-consuming, but necessary process.
Individual Progress vs Class Progress
The speed at which an individual progresses and the speed at which their class progresses are two very different metrics. Some students move ahead quicker than others. And some others need more time. However, gauging an individual’s progress in a virtual environment can be a challenge for EdTech providers. Especially given the lack of face-to-face interactions.
How AI Can Help:
Content & feed personalization powered by AI can allow educators to ensure that students see content that is tailored to the parts of the curriculum that they are currently learning. Content and feed personalization take cues from user events data, similar content, and long-term user personalization. And enables educators to provide a highly individualized experience for their students. Additionally, AI-enabled visualization of students’ progress can help educators plan their lessons and reach out to individual students who may need additional support with the relevant course material.
Understanding Individual Interests
Virtual environments do not always allow students to exhibit the full length and breadth of their personalities. Consequently, educators might not be aware of all of their students’ interests. Thus, they will also be unable to direct them to the course content that resonates with their passions. In fact, there could be students who are interested in topics that entirely fall out of their coursework. Or, entire groups of students could be doing the same coursework without being aware of new, additional material that falls in line with their interests.
How AI Can Help:
A combination of AI-enriched student profiles with AI-based targeting and recommendations can help educators understand every one of their students at an individual level. And then equip them with the course material that matches their interests. With AI-based targeting and recommendations, educators can direct new content to the right set of students based on their profiles and their affinity to the content produced. As a result, course material gets distributed in accordance with every individual student’s actual interests.
Bridging The Classroom Gap
The biggest challenge that EdTech providers face today is to recreate the classroom experience where students get individualized experiences — even with generic coursework. AI can solve this by helping educators understand their students at a more holistic level. Thus, enabling educators to focus on what really matters: learning.
