#ai-in-education

#ai-in-education

Not long ago, the idea of computers understanding how students feel or think sounded like science fiction, but today, it is becoming a reality. This is called neuroadaptive learning, and it's basically a combination of education, neuroscience, and AI. This approach allows learning systems to adapt in real time based on what's happening in a student's brain, creating a personalized and responsive experience.

Research released this month suggests that AI has become fully embedded in how students respond to homework and other assignments. The percentage of high school students who report using generative AI for schoolwork is growing, increasing from an already high 79% to 84% between January and May of this year, according to surveys conducted by College Board, the nonprofit that manages much of the nation's standardized tests, including the SAT.

I'm pretty sure that two generations ago, they would have been more like I was: always with their nose in some volume, looking up only to cross the street or to guide a fork on their plates. But today, even in our book-crammed home, where their father is often in a cozy reading chair, their eyes are more likely to be glued to a screen.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are the most useful technologies, which are reshaping online learning today. From course suggestions based on the learner's previous coursework to tutoring systems that use AI capabilities, these technologies can build a smarter, data-driven learning experience that adapts to the pace and learning approach of every student. AI in eLearning isn't just about automating actions; it's about providing personalized learning paths that foster engagement, improve the retention of content.

In the late 1990s, a group of commuters would board the early-morning Amtrak train from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. They'd sit in the first car behind the locomotive, enjoying communal, consensual silence. Eventually and with the conductor's help, their car was officially designated as a noise-free zone. Soon after, Denise LaBencki-Fullmer, an Amtrak manager, recognized the value of a peaceful ride and institutionalized the program as the quiet car. At the request of passengers, it soon spread to a number of other commuter services.

Alpha School San Francisco, which opened its doors to K-8 students this fall, is the newest outpost of a network of 14 nationwide private schools. Its learning model entails just two hours of focused academic work per day, during which the school says students can learn twice as fast as their counterparts in traditional schools with the help of artificial intelligence.

A new report from Oxford University Press, which surveyed 2,000 UK students ages 13 to 18 in August, found that eight in 10 of the teenagers interviewed use AI tools for their schoolwork, and nearly as many turn to them for homework help. Many students said these tools are helping them "think faster" and "solve difficult questions," but experts warn that this new fluency may come at a cost.

Remarkably, only half of students say they use AI for schoolwork, while even more report personal use (73 percent). Those non-academic uses of AI raise more alarms, as 42 percent of students said they or someone they know has used AI for mental health support, companionship, or a way to "escape from real life." Nearly a fifth of students (19 percent) said they or someone they know has even formed a romantic relationship with an AI chatbot.

Upward transfer is viewed as a mechanism to provide college students with an accessible and affordable on-ramp to higher education through two-year colleges, but breakdowns in the credit-transfer process can hinder a student's progress toward their degree. A recent survey by Sova and the Beyond Transfer Policy Advisory Board found the average college student loses credits transferring between institutions and has to repeat courses they've already completed. Some students stop out of higher education altogether because transfer is too challenging.

Good morning. This week, Fortune published our 11 th annual Change the World list, a compendium of 50 companies that are using the creative forces of capitalism to tackle big social problems. These companies are doing well by doing good, so to speak: They've figured out how to make money selling products and services that have a positive impact on people and the planet. Here are this year's honorees.

"For an education institution, we see AI as a material that can be shaped,"

New advances in artificial intelligence break news at such a rapid pace that many of us have difficulties keeping up. Dinuka Gunaratne gave a detailed summary of many different AI tools in his "Carpe Careers" article published in July; yet more tools will likely appear in the next months and years in an exponential explosion. How do we, as educators (new and established Ph.D.s) design curriculum and classes with these new AI tools being released every few weeks?

But so many of the basic tenets we used to take as settled just aren't anymore. Remember checks and balances? There was a time when we assumed that no one branch of the federal government could dominate the other two to such an extent as to render precedent irrelevant. Yet, here we are. I'd have a hard time teaching checks and balances with a straight face now.

I frequently meet patients with lupus whose disease has caused severe neuropsychiatric symptoms, and watching them emerge from their cognitive cocoons after immunosuppressive treatment is always breathtaking. Other autoimmune neurologic phenomena can present in equally bizarre ways. Some people with antiphospholipid syndrome-a condition associated with the formation of blood clots-can experience chorea (involuntary muscle movements)or acute changes in cognition (one of my patients was diagnosed after becoming markedly confused).

He said it seemed like breakthroughs in AI would be exponential to the point where "it will just do research for us, so what do we do?" He said he spent a lot of time talking with students at the PhD level about how to organize themselves, even about what their role in the world would be going forward. It was "existential" and "surprising," he said. Then, he received another surprise: a student-led request for a change in testing.

Like it or not, artificial intelligence is becoming a fixture in the classroom. This is being pushed along at a brisk pace by tech companies eager to get their products into the hands of millions of students. On Thursday, Perplexity became the latest AI developer to offer a back-to-school special: Students can access of Comet, the company's AI-centered web browsing platform that debuted in July to rival Google's Chrome and Apple's Safari. The browser is currently available through Perplexity Pro, which costs $200 annually.

The difference is we can now see the disconnect more clearly, and the consequences of inaction are dramatic. AI has become an X-ray for our education system, revealing critical fractures that have long been masked by traditional assessment methods. When information is universally accessible, success increasingly depends on developing adaptive skills that our current educational approach has struggled to prioritize because they're notoriously difficult to teach and measure at scale.

Like many students, Nicole Acevedo has come to rely on artificial intelligence. The 15-year-old recently used it to help write her speech for her quinciñera. When she waits too long on completing homework, Nicole admitted, she leans on the technology so she can hand assignments in on time. Her school, located in the Greenpoint/Williamsburg area of Brooklyn, has also embraced artificial intelligence. But it is hoping to harness it in ways that supplement learning rather than supplant it.

"Agentic AI systems are designed to make decisions, take effective actions, and then adapt their behavior based on the environment, along with the types of goals that they are pursuing."

"Every iteration of ClassDojo is built on feedback from the people who use it," said Chad A. Stevens, Ph.D., ClassDojo's Head of K-12 Engagement. "Superintendents were clear that they wanted to use tools that were already rapidly adopted and loved by school staff. So, we built tools that bring the whole district together-with consistency, control, and care."

Harari's Nexus provides a significant historical context for understanding AI by placing it within the evolution of information networks, demonstrating how technology continuously alters communication forms.