When you think of artificial intelligence (AI), what comes to mind? Sophisticated robots and simulated worlds? What about education? Could AI help teachers?

Education has long faced a crisis where schools are under-resourced and teachers are in short supply. The pandemic made the situation worse – school closures meant that 1.6 billion people have missed out on essential guidance and content. 

At the same time, educators had to quickly adjust to the remote scenario and deliver quality teaching.

AI technology is proving that it can support schools and teachers at this critical time, and streamline processes for the long term. As a result, students can learn in a more engaged way, and teachers have more time to dedicate to one-on-one interactions.

AI won’t replace teachers, but it can complement and extend their expertise for every student. 

Here’s 4 ways how AI can help teachers:

1. Give students personalized, real-time feedback

Facilitating greater motivation and achievement among students been proven to occur when personalized feedback is given. Using AI, students can submit work online and get immediate information about where to improve, what they’ve done well, and the unique steps they need to take to advance.

For example, with ELSA’s speech recognition platform, AI evaluates students’ spoken English and provides detailed feedback on pronunciation, grammar, and fluency. 

ELSA’s AI has a 95% accuracy rate, and allows students to compare their speech to a native speaker, and highlight and revise any errors.

Elsewhere, the Artificial Intelligence Coach recommends daily lessons for students based on their proficiency level and interests, encouraging students to study and practice. The more they use the platform, the more feedback they collect, and the faster they progress.

By automating on-demand, in-depth feedback, students receive the support they need in the moments they need it most, and are more likely to remember takeaways and apply them moving forward.

2. Create personalized learning paths for your students

The more data used to power AI, the more precise its insights are. 

AI uses behavioral data to create optimal learning environments for teachers managing many students.

For instance, AI can show the times that students are most active in a lesson, what type of content they score highest on, and what area of a subject they are struggling to understand. 

By bringing these trends to light, teachers can tailor lesson plans and individual tutoring accordingly. They could also use the information to decide when to send out assessments.

ELSA’s adaptive system uses student performance and behavior data for personalized learning path for group and individual student success.

“ELSA has allowed me to continuously track and support students’ progress. I’m able to identify when students are falling behind and prompt them to increase their practice time.”

Lead Instructor at RICE University

The instructor also notes that: “Most of the learners are interested in the program and have studied actively. We can tell from the number of lessons, hours practiced, and their learning results.”

3. Provide general admin support for teachers

Teachers experience burnout almost twice as much as other government employees. 

Using AI, however, can save teachers 13 hours per week on administrative tasks, giving them a healthier workload.

AI can assist teachers with taking attendance, documenting students’ development, writing reports, and other repetitive tasks. It can also grade students, which some experts say is beneficial for impartiality and consistency in students’ scores. 

Additionally, AI chatbots ensure that students can ask questions at any time and get swift answers. Learning therefore isn’t limited by teachers’ working hours. Teachers still have total visibility over what students are searching for and if they have found a solution.

With less time spent on administration, AI can help teachers concentrate on empowering students and leveraging it for creative learning.

4. Focus on language learning

Effective communication is crucial in education, tools for both teachers and students are necessary, especially in remote learning.

Let’s learn about how AI can help be the connective bridge for teachers.

AI aids student communication when learning a new language, beyond chatbots and natural language processing (NLP) for information access. A large dataset of diverse speakers created ELSA’s AI. This programmed it to detect mistakes in English that non-native speakers commonly make.

ELSA’s AI also recognizes nuances in intonation, word stress, pitch, and pace in communication. When students upload recordings of them speaking English, ELSA offers a breakdown of how they did and where they can make corrections. 

It also generates a selection of videos and recommendations for students to model their communication off, and more clearly articulate themselves in English.

How ELSA students benefit from AI

After reviewing 300 students practicing with ELSA Speak for three months, we found that 90% advanced their English. 

AI-powered tools like ELSA support schools in education without replacing the human aspect of teaching.

“With ELSA students are exposed to new sounds and the right intonation patterns, stresses and rhythms. And the great thing is, you have a native speaker to listen to, speak to and practice with at any time of the day.”

Managing Director at YOLA, Ms. NAM DO

To discover how AI can transform your classroom, request a demo of ELSA, the #1 English speaking platform recommended by teachers worldwide.

Did you enjoy this blog? Discover more ways AI can help you improve your English communication skills.