Automated Education – How to Use Automation Without Losing the Human Touch

Read on to learn why schools must use personalization and interpersonal skills in automated education to keep students and teachers relations intact.

While the education industry can utilize automation to make learning effective and staff productive, they risk losing the human touch. Giving systems partial control over the learning experience can distance educators from their classrooms. Schools must incorporate personalization and interpersonal skills into automated systems to keep the relationship between students and teachers intact.

1. Reinforce Human Relationships

The education industry typically utilizes automated systems to replace the need for professionals to carry out repetitive duties manually. For instance, artificial intelligence (AI) is most suited for routine tasks in a closed system because of its ability to process large amounts of data continuously. It works well for grading, progress tracking or even lesson planning.

Personalization is necessary to retain the human touch when machines take over many responsibilities. Even though automation can make things easier, its primary purpose is to redirect staff’s focus onto students rather than to replace them. It frees up their time so they can prioritize enhancing the learning experience.

The relationship between a class and its teacher is critical for humanizing automation in education. They see each other daily, so strengthening that connection as a first resort is reasonable. Students value people who provide feedback, support personalized learning and take a particular interest in them. Educators can take advantage of the fact that machines can’t necessarily do those things.

Instead of letting automatically generated lesson plans play out with no input, they can act as a guide or mentor. Doing so gives the machine space to do its job effectively and can help everyone feel supported.

2. Teach Soft Skills

When schools use AI to create personalized lesson plans, students learn on a logical progression based on their educational data. Even though it typically can teach rule-based subjects accurately, it can’t represent the human side of education as well. Educators can utilize the automation of education without losing the human touch by emphasizing things only they are capable of.

For example, physical interactions and critical thinking can foster an innovative mindset in children, but they’re often missing in automated learning environments. They could teach things like problem-solving, creativity, and interpersonal and conflict-resolution skills. The benefit of such an approach is it’s beneficial for both parties. Balancing both learning styles can help build a strong relationship and keep students invested in their teachings.

3. Contextualize Data

While c systems are great for streamlining tedious or repetitive tasks, they can’t reason like people do. The concept that automated systems are better at judging students is somewhat inaccurate because it relies on decontextualized knowledge and content.

Although they have access to large amounts of data and can process it rapidly, they have no context for any of it. For instance, an attendance tracker could flag someone as tardy even if they’re only a minute late. A teacher would know to overlook it and value their presence over punctuality.

Machines can operate on strict parameters that keep them from accurately responding to certain situations. For example, an AI that automatically generates lesson plans based on student data can only come to conclusions determined by its programming. It’s good at finding patterns but needs help applying human logic.

Someone who scores poorly on a test could have been kept up the night before by a family emergency. Educators can utilize automated education but retain the human touch by using situational awareness and responding accordingly. Students aren’t simply numbers on a spreadsheet, so they sometimes need grace.

4. Keep Humans Involved

Although an automated system is supposed to eliminate the need to do something manually, having people involved can keep the human touch in education. Whether regarding grading, admissions or attendance software, having a pair of human eyes can ensure things flow smoothly and make a class more receptive.

For example, although a senior lecturer in Australia used a chatbot to answer his 500 students’ questions, a teaching aid was available when it couldn’t adequately answer. It would instantly respond to multiple people simultaneously, freeing his assistants up for more complex queries. His pupils also appreciated having the option to talk to someone real.

In addition, machines sometimes make mistakes. A simple workflow that verifies enrollment could miscategorize someone if it doesn’t recognize their name correctly. Schools can use automation to reduce human error significantly and streamline tasks, then have a person double-check the results. It keeps humans in the loop and ensures accuracy.

5. Utilize Collaboration

A collaborative learning environment can add a human touch to automated education by taking advantage of student relationships. They can rely on peer interactions to get insight and valuable feedback even if their learning experience automatically generates. Collaborative learning is also generally favorable, considering they feel group work enhances their experience and teaches them better.

A humanized education relies on some level of social interaction, meaning it’s OK for them to interact. Educators can benefit from streamlining their daily tasks while their pupils receive an enhanced learning experience.

Keeping Humanity in Automated Education

Whether through peer or staff interactions, retaining the human touch in education relies on keeping people involved. Schools can incorporate automated systems in many ways without entirely relying on them.

FAQ