by Angela Guess
Barbara Kurshan recently wrote in Forbes, “Our world as we know it is running on artificial intelligence. Siri manages our calendars. Facebook suggests our friends. Computers trade our stocks. We have cars that park themselves, and air traffic control is almost fully automated. Virtually every field has benefited from advances in artificial intelligence, from the military to medicine to manufacturing. However, almost none of the recent advancements in artificial intelligence have advanced the education industry. Why is education lagging behind? Why has the momentum for artificial intelligence in education seemed to have largely faded in the past few years?”
Kurshan goes on, “Woolf, et al., (2013) proposed some ‘grand challenges’ that artificial intelligence in education should work to address, including: (1) Virtual mentors for every learner: Omnipresent support that integrates user modeling, social simulation and knowledge representation. (2) Addressing 21st century skills: Assist learners with self-direction, self-assessment, teamwork and more. (3) Analysis of interaction data: Bring together the vast amounts of data about individual learning, social contexts, learning contexts and personal interests. (4) Provide opportunities for global classrooms:Increase the interconnectedness and accessibility of classrooms worldwide. (5) Lifelong and lifewide technologies: Taking learning outside of the classroom and into the learner’s life outside of school.”
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