How AI Can Personalize Learning for Every Student

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Teachers strive to personalize learning for every student, but between time, the ability to quickly access data, and individual student needs, they’re under a lot of pressure. It’s no surprise that teacher burnout is rising, and more teachers than ever are leaving education. Fortunately, AI can help.

During the edLeader Panel “Supporting Every Student: How AI Makes Personalized Learning Possible,” Brian Galvin, Chief Academic Officer at Varsity Tutors, spoke with Mary Strain, who leads Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for US Education at Amazon Web Services, and Anthony Salcito, Chief Institution Business Officer at Varsity Tutors, about how schools can use AI to support staff and students and personalize learning.

AI can be used to assist with grading and provide feedback in real time. It can also use data to make recommendations for students, using available information to suggest approaches teachers may not have thought of.

Some K-12 schools are already working with AI to safely use student data to create personalized learning models for students that change and grow with the individual. Teachers use AI for micro-assessments that provide real-time feedback, which is used to generate personalized learning material focused on individual students. Soon, schools will even be able to use AI to personalize students’ schedules based on their needs.

AI can also help empower teachers when it comes to student interventions. Time is a limited resource—and something interventions require a lot of. AI can use student data to provide timely, accurate interventions, analyze available resources, look at individual students’ needs, and generate personalized instruction, reducing teacher pressure and giving students plans that change as they progress.

One huge challenge has been handling individual learning styles and needs of multiple students in the same classroom. Here, AI can help with differentiated instruction and setting up a classroom space for different learning modalities by looking at where students are struggling and analyzing what they need in order to learn. With AI able to personalize lessons and provide real-time feedback, teachers can devote more time to building relationships and a sense of classroom community that helps students learn empathy and develop personal skills.

Schools can reduce strain on staff by using AI to help develop lessons that align with standards, match tutors with students, provide insight and feedback from tutoring, generate classroom materials, and assist with other work, such as recruitment and planning bus routes. Schools are also using AI to summarize and transcribe board meetings and provide chatbots for website FAQs. All of this contributes to easing the workload on staff, keeping the focus on supporting students.

AI also helps with tutoring. It can transcribe sessions, update schools on student progress, and generate curricula aligned with district standards, while building on previous sessions and providing examples and questions for tutors, improving their performance as well.

AI is changing the world, and educators must familiarize themselves with it so they can effectively use it to prepare students with skills for the future. Schools should talk with vendors and take advantage of any available resources, for example, some may offer classes that teachers can take to learn to effectively use AI. As teachers feel more comfortable with it, they’ll understand ways to apply it.

With any new technology, security is paramount, so schools should work with vendors to ensure they are implementing safe and secure AI solutions. On the classroom level, policing AI can be difficult, so teachers must inform students that it’s not always accurate, teach them how to identify misinformation, and make sure students understand how to use AI for learning, not cheating.

AI is the future, and the future is bright. With all the support it can provide teachers, it can significantly reduce burnout and allow them to focus on meeting individual needs and helping students succeed.


Learn more about this edWeb broadcast, Supporting Every Student: How AI Makes Personalized Learning Possible, sponsored by Varsity Tutors.

Watch the RecordingListen to the Podcast

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Varsity Tutors

Varsity Tutors is the leading next-generation tutoring and intervention platform trusted by over 1,000 school districts nationwide. Combining personalized live instruction with advanced AI technology, our unified platform delivers targeted, high-dosage tutoring, instant on-demand academic support, adaptive assessments, immersive live classes, comprehensive test preparation, and AI tools for teachers that enhance personalized learning, save teachers valuable time, and reduce burnout. Designed to accelerate student learning, close achievement gaps, and streamline educators’ workloads, our platform includes intelligent tutor matching, real-time analytics, and adaptive learning paths. We provide measurable results—students achieve twice the proficiency growth compared to traditional interventions. Learn how we’re empowering educators and transforming student outcomes at varsitytutors.com/schools.


 

Article by Jon Scanlon, based on this edLeader Panel