this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2023
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I wouldn't be surprised if some form of automated education becomes a big thing in the future, but this is just a shit idea right now meant to keep costs low and profits up.
Even as it is now, I could see it being good for some kids.
I certainly could’ve benefitted from a guided, fully-self-paced curriculum. I was bored off my ass in high school.
Like this, you could teach an entire high school and have a teacher:student ratio of like 1:200. Really just need SMEs annd a big computer lab, and that’s it.
But it’s definitely not for everyone. Most kids need more hands-on, especially with new topics. And there has to be human oversight (humans writing exams/quizzes and intervening if the AI is incorrect or ineffective).
The issue isn't the approach, it's the accuracy. AI are statistical models. They're not designed to give right answers. They're designed to give believable answers, which area occasionally correct.
So who knows what these kids are learning. It could be ridiculous inaccuracies like Columbus peacefully discovering America.
Or that the Civil War was fought over states rights. To do what, AI? The right to do what?
The same could really be said about human teachers as well, though. An AI is frequently confidently wrong but so was my history teacher.
Don't get me wrong, I think this is a terrible idea. But we were already vulnerable to misinformation with classical schooling. To use your example, we WERE taught that Colombus discovered the Americas peacefully. It wasn't until I reached college that I learned the truth behind the discovery and colonization of the Americas, and I only even learned it then by doing my own history reading. Up until that point I had been taught that Thanksgiving was celebrated in memory of the happy-fun-get-along-times that were had between the settlers and the natives.
Kids are already taught ridiculous inaccuracies on purpose and while I hardly think an idea like this would improve that situation, I have to point out that at least accidental misinformation would be less objectively evil than what we already misinform kids about.
Your history teacher is sometimes confidently wrong because they are subject to the biases of their time and culture. AI is sometimes confidently wrong because it literally is incapable of evaluating information to assess its factuality. I know which one I think should be in charge of teaching children.
have you asked an AI how to bake a cake?
It’s a piece of cake to bake a pretty cake.
You gotta do the cooking by-the-book.
WHAT?! YEAHHHH SKEET SKEET
hold on, i gotta pick up some fear and a few bowls of unmarked cubes first
No, the value of a computer based education is that you don't need SME's on site. Instead, you could get away with one home office developing the lesson plans, then distributing their work across a state. Specialty graders could be hired to handle anything that the computer can't grade.
The schools themselves would just have enough teachers that are the equivalent of substitute teachers keeping order.
I don't know about 'automated' education, but we 100% SHOULD have been using technology as an education AMPLIFIER for a long time already. No AI needed for that.
My wife is in education and spent over a decade teaching science at an alternative public school (the "You've fallen behind due to illness, pregnancy, or family issues, so come here to catch up" type, NOT the "You're a total delinquent, here's a 'prison classroom'" type) that did self-paced learning.
She had recorded a ton videos of herself teaching all of the various concepts/standards that were required by the state for her subjects. She also had assignments ready for the entire course, and labs which could mostly be done by the students with minimal direct interaction by the teacher.
So the kids would come in, check in with her on what was the next thing they needed to work on, then would watch the video on their Chromebook and then do the assignment or lab. She'd be there for them to ask her about anything they didn't understand, or for whatever help they needed.
There were of course some labs and assignments that they would schedule to be done by the whole class at a given time, when it was necessary, or made more sense.
So the kids who picked it up quickly could finish a semester worth of work and learning within a month or two, leaving her more time to spend helping the kids who were struggling with a given concept.
It also gave opportunities for the kids who had mastered a concept to be able to help those who hadn't.
I see no reason similar methodologies and technologies couldn't be employed at regular schools to amplify the ability of teachers to educate students and give the teachers more time to help the ones who weren't picking things up as quickly, without holding back the students who were.
I won't be surprised if what you are describing becomes how education is handled going forward for high school and college, but I don't think it will be a blanket solution for everyone.
I also think that the implementation of the technology will likely be done to reduce the reliance on qualified teaching staff rather than to free up their time.