As AI changes how both teachers and students behave, here’s how the technology can lead to better experiences and better outcomes for all.
Every school on the planet is trying to wrestle with the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on classroom behaviors, curriculum design, and learning outcomes. In Canada, the approach has been a mix of caution, fear, and eagerness, especially at the post-secondary level. With no national standard to lean on, individuals and institutions alike are in a state of exploration, living in an intellectual “frontier zone” with an uncertain future.
However, even as uncertainty abounds, there are also a multitude of opportunities available. Key among them is the chance for improvements to administrative efficiency, broader adoption of personalized learning plans, expansions to research capabilities, and access to more data for making smart, well-informed decisions. Taken together, these four areas have the potential to reshape post-secondary life and elevate the learning outcomes for today’s students and those who come after them, too.
AI makes administrative work more efficient
One area where AI is having a meaningful impact is administrative work. Beyond the classroom experience, a great deal of university life revolves around paperwork and administration. Everything has a form, from paying tuition to registering for classes to entering grades and making supply requests. Completing such forms is necessary for the smooth functioning of the institution, but human time spent on these forms is human time not spent on learning, teaching, researching, or networking with peers.
To help shift this time burden from humans to algorithms, many universities are leaning on AI-enabled tools. Some are even encouraging students to build institution-specific tools from scratch as a way of helping others and expressing their mastery of the new technology. At McMaster University, for example, two students built a locally hosted ChatGPT to specifically address the administrative burden of course registration and shepherd their fellow students through the process with a 24/7 support system powered by AI. The locally hosted tool protects students’ sensitive information as they navigate the enrollment system while also dramatically reducing student questions and confusion, lowering the administrative burden associated with each semester’s class enrollment process. This saves time, stress, and costs for both students and administrators while also improving the overall experience of enrollment.
Personalized learning paths are more accessible than ever before
Along with lowering the administrative burden and administrative friction associated with learning, AI tools can also help make personalized learning paths more accessible in every sense of the word. Adaptive learning experiences tailored to individual student needs have long been viewed as desirable, but cost considerations and the administrative burden of such plans have limited their availability. AI brings costs down dramatically, lowers the administrative lift associated with individualized learning, and makes this type of learning approach available to all those interested in pursuing it without requiring individuals to fight for permission to learn in this way.
For neurodiverse students, this is a great gift. They can learn at the speed and in the style they need without requiring testing and justification. For students needing more accessible learning paths beyond classroom lectures, it is now available on demand. For students catching up, patient, 24/7 tutoring support is now essentially free. And, for the best and brightest trying to race ahead, barriers to accelerated learning are falling by the day.
In addition to shifting the learning experience for Canadian students, teachers and staff also benefit. With AI tools and mentors available to handle repetitive fundamentals and rote learning aspects of instructions, teachers can be more available for the advanced theoretical and philosophical discussions that bring vibrancy and life to the classroom. Plus, the analytics that can be gathered about learning speeds and material mastery can help instructors reshape in-person learning sessions so that they are truly helpful and engaging for students, boosting learning outcomes and making everyone feel as though the face-to-face time is meaningful and worthwhile.
Research limits are evaporating
Another place AI is helping face-to-face and hands-on experiences shine for faculty and students is by helping to erase pre-existing research limits. For example, at Simon Fraser University, AI-powered virtual labs allow students to conduct more and more varied experiments remotely, overcoming limits on lab space and materials. At the University of Waterloo, AI tools crunch through published literature to find related studies and data sets, dramatically cutting down on the time needed to find cross-references and supporting studies. And, at Western University, AI tools are improving modeling and prediction processes, exciting everyone from facilities managers to classical researchers.
Better analytics make for better decisions
These research improvements are underpinned by the power AI has to give better analytical outcomes, which in turn support better decision-making processes. AI can also allow for more informed decisions across large data sets and multivariate situations, which can improve choices on everything from curriculum investments to research reviews.
Post-secondary schools have to plan for the far-off future while also annually delivering fresh graduates into the present day. To determine what’s best now and in the future, the modeling power and analytical tools of AI systems can help and help at a much lower price point than similarly robust teams of consultants. As a result, universities can make more informed choices and feel more on top of a world economic environment loaded with valuable information signals topped by exceptional amounts of noise. By being able to filter away noise and focus on key skills and trends of the future, administrators can use AI to make better choices on behalf of their students, benefiting everyone.
Closing thoughts…
The AI story is far from over, but the early chapters have been particularly exciting for Canada’s post-secondary institutions. AI can do so much to reshape the educational experience, elevate learning outcomes, and improve administrative efficiencies. By leaning into the potential of the new tools at hand, students, teachers, and administrators have the chance to do more meaningful and engaging classroom work at a lower cost and with better access for all. This is ultimately a boon for institutions and the future of Canada as a whole, and one the nation should be eager to continue to embrace.