Harnessing AI to reshape higher education
Institutions should focus on embracing AI’s potential to drive meaningful change in how we approach education, according to GoStudent co-founder and CEO Felix Ohswald
Many countries in the world, such as the UK, have been exploring the development of AI in education, emphasising its potential for positive impact on society. This transformative technology is certainly here to stay, with recent research indicating that 53 per cent of students in the UK are already leveraging generative AI, underscoring its growing importance. The overriding goal should now therefore lie in embracing AI’s potential to drive meaningful change in how we approach education. Here are a few takeaways from GoStudent’s experience of exploring AI’s potential and limitations:
AI can empower students to learn more, in new ways
AI puts a world of insight at our fingertips. Students can learn almost anything with just a few taps at a keyboard. However, there is a lot of resistance to AI, namely from fear of cheating. By rethinking how we approach AI in education, new opportunities for how we teach and evaluate success can be unlocked.
Right now, a student could use ChatGPT to write an essay on how to set up a start-up, but they could also use ChatGPT to learn how to establish that business and an institution could then assess how well that student applies their new skills. Learning has long been a test of memory and of how many facts can be crammed onto a revision card the night before, but AI can empower students to learn differently.
By embracing AI, educators are likely to adopt more frequent testing with strict monitoring, replacing traditional methods of assignments. This shift could enable the integration of more complex projects into the curriculum.
AI can free up lecturer resources
People attend university to learn with those at the top of their game. They want to study with these figures – not with AI. However, AI tools can free up lecturer resources, enabling them to spend more time with students and on their research. In the university sphere, we are already seeing fantastic innovation, such as element431, an AI CRM tool that allows universities to customise their communications with students and Elicit, an AI-built search engine that can search more than 100 million academic papers indexed in Semantic Scholar.
AI can make subjects more accessible
AI, as well as other emerging technologies such as virtual reality (VR), hold immense promise in making subjects more accessible and engaging. By simulating real-world environments, technology driven learning enables students to immerse themselves in practical learning scenarios, further bridging that gap between theory and practice. GoStudent’s 2024 Future of Education Report found that around two-thirds of parents across Germany and Austria would like to see more use of VR as an educational tool. Similarly, 67 per cent of parents in Austria would welcome a stronger role for the metaverse.
Technology as an equaliser
How can universities bring these potential benefits to life? Imagine if every institution had a state-of-the-art VR science lab, run by an AI tutor, allowing the next generation of scientists or medics to study safely in a real-world setting between labs with their human expert mentors. In this instance, technology acts as a great equaliser, providing opportunities students can get through inclusive education opportunities. The aim should be to better equip students and graduates as they enter the workforce in the knowledge that AI already covers arguably the number one area of skills they require to be future-ready.