AI and Online Education: A changing landscape or a sea change?

Abstract

Distance learning has a long history in the United States starting with correspondence courses. These relied on the postal service to deliver material to students who then returned assignments similarly via mail. Now, distance education has morphed into online education. This is where students and teachers are physically separated but connected by technology. Initial advantages were the quick distribution and collection of educational material digitally.

Online materials have become more robust with links to videos, current news and all sorts of information available on the World Wide Web. Assignments can be more innovative: discussion posts and replies based on real-time events, zoom discussions, research assignments as well as quizzes and individualized problem sets. So, all may be good.

However, beyond understanding is the human socialization aspect. Schools and teachers help youngsters observe and experience relationships to integrate themselves into larger groups–whether positive or negative. They learn to adapt. They learn what is acceptable and they learn what is not. Was this what Hannah Arendt meant by the human condition? (Arendt, 1989).

Just knowing stuff is useless. Anyone can use technology to look up answers, but faculty should be training the brains of youngsters…like athletes train their muscles. Brain training is an exceptional skill. Students should be conversing and sharing ideas about a concept. That is the point of schooling: to think and to problem-solve. Knowledge without understanding is difficult to accomplish with AI unless personalizing education involves human interaction, too. How can real learning be confirmed with an AI-assisted education. Is this a changing landscape or a sea of change?

This paper will look at the trend of online education with the introduction of artificial intelligence so far through an analysis of online education statistics and learning integrity.