Imagine a virtual assistant who can answer students’ questions at any time, offer them personalized resources based on their needs, and even guide them through practical exercises. This is the promise of generative AI! Good news or bad news for training? We tell you more about the new avenues to explore.
The democratization of generative AI
Although it has existed since the 1950s, artificial intelligence or AI has experienced a meteoric rise since 2010 with the advent of deep learning, natural language processing (NLP) and generative AI .
The latter now makes the creation of (almost) human-quality text accessible to everyone, without the need for special technical skills. Tools like ChatGPT perfectly illustrate this trend.
These advances, coupled with the incredible democratization of AI among all audiences, promise to radically transform education as we know it.
Artificial Intelligence in Education: What Challenges for Tomorrow?
Improve the learning experience
In education, one of the main challenges of AI is to improve the learning experience of students.
At this stage, several avenues are being explored in the academic environment.
- Chatbots and virtual assistants: They could offer personalized support to students, answering their questions and guiding them in their learning.
- Reading or resource recommendation systems: based on AI, they could facilitate access to information and help students find the most relevant resources for their learning.
- Individualized virtual tutoring: this could allow teaching to be adapted to the specific needs of each student, by offering a common block with the teacher and personalizing part of the course for each learner via AI.
GOOD TO KNOW
Please note that these options have not yet been implemented at the University of Lausanne and require further consideration. Therefore, we do not yet have sufficient insight into their effectiveness.
Develop teacher training on AI
Teachers need to understand how to integrate AI-powered tools into their courses in ways that complement and enrich their teaching, rather than replace it.
We also need to think about harmonizing the framework of practices , by setting up a committee composed of teachers, administrators and AI developers. This committee could establish clear guidelines on what is and is not allowed in the classroom in terms of AI use (respect for student privacy, ethical use of AI, types of AI-based tools that can be used in teaching).