Educational systems are rapidly growing in scale, digitalizing rapidly, and becoming ever more high-stakes. There is a growing concern with cheating, leaking exams, faulty evaluations, administrative failures, and lack of transparency, but students are often the ones who pay the price for issues with the system. Therefore, we need to have an educational system that is more secure, equitable, and relies on technology, which presents policy challenges.
A particularly notable area of concern today in education is examination integrity. The increasing complexity of maintaining confidence in assessments has become driven by impersonation, unfair practices, unauthorized collaboration, and leaking of assessment papers. The potential capability of AI-enabled Monitoring would allow for the early detection of unusual behaviors and flagging of suspicious behaviors that contribute to creating a secure examination environment. Digital identity verification systems, behavior analysis, and real-time monitoring systems will provide opportunities to lower the likelihood of fraud whilst ensuring a smooth examination flow.
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Beyond providing a more secure environment for education, AI technology is another problem that can be solved; it can assist with the human error factor in evaluation and administrative tasks. Delayed results due to mismatches and mistakes with data, grading, or processing can cause stress and uncertainty for the student. Automated evaluation (AIE) can help streamline the evaluation process (workflow) of assessments and provide consistency in evaluating a student, as well as reduce the administrative burden to support the student. While there is a need for human oversight, technology can assist in limiting many preventable errors affecting student outcomes.
In addition to providing a secure environment, another significant area where technology will impact education is by enhancing fairness. Traditional education typically uses a standardized single assessment and decision-making method; however, AI can provide evaluation and administration that is more adaptive and driven by data to provide the institutions with insights gained through performance trends, learning patterns, or assessment data, which will provide the institution with a deeper insight into student and personnel needs as well as systemic gaps. This work may be used as a foundation for developing individualized and equitable interventions that will provide support at the right time.
The ability to make decisions about the future based on current conditions is another advantage that AI provides. In many instances, educational institutions react to crises after they have happened. Advanced analytics can help educational institutions identify patterns that suggest operational vulnerabilities, abnormal assessment behavior, or administrative vulnerabilities before they occur. Institutions can improve their planning processes, strengthen their governance, and reduce their likelihood of having a large-scale disruption as a result of implementing proactive practices.
AI should not solely be viewed as a “technological fix” for education. Simply implementing technology isn’t enough to resolve the problems faced by education today. Education needs to have governance and accountability, ethical data practices with AI in schools, and clarity of the vision of education goals before the implementation of technology. The transformation of education via technology must focus on human judgment, academic integrity, and student welfare in all instances.
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Discussions about A.I. as it relates to education need to change direction and move away from discussions around productivity and efficiency. The greatest potential of A.I. is in creating student-centered systems with high levels of accountability for stakeholders and resilience to change. When AI is implemented correctly, it can lead to an educational ecosystem that is not only smarter but also has improved transparency, trust, and equitable access to educational opportunities for all students.
In these difficult times, when educational institutions’ credibility has been disrupted by continuous problems and increasing expectations, careful use of technology is possibly the most viable way to create an educational environment that can be relied upon by students.
(This article is written by Manish Mohta, Founder, Learning Spiral)
