Let’s make education more accessible – key takeaways from the Liverpool AI in Education Summit
AI in education is often a testy subject. The conversation for the past few years has largely surrounded the negative impact AI could have on education – we've all heard the incessant fearmongering: “students will use it to cheat”; “original work is dead”; “AI ruins learning.” But we don’t think the future is quite so bleak... and neither do the experts.
Yesterday, we brought together leading researchers and businesses to share their insights on how AI can transform the future of learning. Co-hosted with Disrupt HR, our AI in Education Summit showed us the possibilities for accessible education, actionable training, and personalised learning.
To start off the day, Giancarlo Erra broke down the complexity of AI: "It [AI] sees a recurring pattern and it puts in all these words without understanding what they mean." Essentially, AI doesn’t understand what it tells us, it just works it out via context. This is quite a comforting thought. AI might in theory know more than us, but at least we know we know. We can rest assured that it’s only us humans who can actually take information in, apply it, and ultimately understand its significance.
So, what’s the significance for the world of education?
Our wide range of speakers gave us more than just food for thought (we'd maybe call it food for action?). Kieron White (Engine), Professor David Reid (Liverpool Hope University), James Pallister (Metaverse Learning), Steven Tallant (Videosign), and Mike O’Flynn (Samphire) all gave us a range of applicable advice. We learned how “delve” has delved into our vocabulary, what jobs are becoming higher paid (and ultimately, more valued) and how AI can create safe spaces for trial and error.
In our final panel we delved deeper. Moderated by our CEO Heather Akehurst, Isa Mutlib,(AI Skills Academy), James Pallister (Metaverse Learning), Conrad Hemingway (University of Salford), Steve Foulger (NFP), and Jackye Clayton (Texito) shared their insights on the possibilities of AI. Their discussion of bias reduction, AI personal tutors and alternative assessments kept us engaged way past the scheduled end time.
The potential for AI to increase accessibility was our main takeaway from the event. It is perhaps overlooked how AI can enhance learning experiences, offer tailored training plans and make assessments apply to real life situations.
As AI can completely change how we understand the concept of learning, it feels like we’re on the precipice of change. With AI, we can remove hidden barriers to learning and make education accessible to all regardless of how you learn. We are certainly excited about the direction AI can take learning.