By Temitope Oguntosin
What if your child’s next teacher were not human, but a tailored artificial intelligence that knows them perhaps better than Aunty Blessing or Master John?
This is no longer a far-off notion; it is already occurring. Digital platforms are changing how education is administered, learned, and tracked. The chalkboard of the past has given way to the tablet; instead of bulky textbooks there are mobile applications; and in any case artificial intelligence is finding ways to assist teachers, students and even administrators in ways scarcely roughed out a decade ago. This is more than a change in how we see education; it is also changing what education is all about.
Transformative technology is transcending national borders, and the Internet is making it possible for more and more people to teach and study at their own convenience. The influence of machines and media on learning extends from large urban centers to remote rural environments in today’s world, reshaping how subjects are organized and consumed; ushering in a new age of education that is more individualized, inclusive and efficient.
Yet while the industry waits for the government to provide policy frameworks so it can bring digitalization into play, a handful of Nigerian companies have – in this way or that way – become some kind pacesetters.
Nigeria’s founded edtech companies have now deployed various academic-enhanced applications, some of which offers K-12 students access to video lessons, quizzes, and help with their homework on a mobile device and has an increasing regional presence in Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Gambia. Another tech-driven education platform also connects learners with verified tutors for various subjects and receives quality education by ensuring a rigid tutor vetting process.
While AltSchool Africa offers hands-on technology and business training to thousands of students in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda, and other parts of Africa, it also provides valuable skills for the future. Web-based solutions like EDUSystems aids collaboration between teachers and students, through its school management systems, enriched with captivating features like finance management, computer-based test (CBT), e-library, digital classrooms, and many more. It helps to ease the process of preparing academic reports by teachers and ensures accessibility for students and parents without any means of alteration. Like EDUSystems’ solutions, other influential platforms, such as Pass.ng and Edves, also facilitate learning in the form of preparation tools for exams and digital learning resources.
Meanwhile, the integration of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) in education is unlocking potential solutions to age-old problems for students, parents, teachers and school administrators. Key among these are;
Adaptive Learning: Smart AI learnings systems can personalize study modules according to the needs of a student, ultimately improving concentration and comprehension.
Time-saving Teaching Procedure: When automated, it saves teachers time on making, taking attendance and computation of results are simplified, freeing up time for teachers to get on with teaching.
Efficient Administration: When automated, admin procedures like student result verification, timetable scheduling, and resource allocation are simplified.
Parental Engagement: Digital platforms break down the barriers between schools and families which offer real-time information on students’ progress and school events.
To add icing to the cake, paving complement the edtech trend transformation in Nigeria; tech companies should be encouraged and positioned to take advantage of these technologies, developing products that serve the unique peculiarities of Nigeria’s varied educational sector. To maximize the benefits of digitization in education, the government at all levels (federal, state, and local) needs to get involved by playing its rightful role of formulating policies that:
Promote Public-Private Partnership:
Partnerships between government, proprietors of school and tech companies may result in invention of scale-able and sustainable educational technologies.
Invest in Infrastructure: Upgrading the internet and providing necessary digital facilities for all schools, including schools in rural areas accessibility, to ensure equitable access to digital learning tools.
Support Research and Development: Investments in Research and Development in Edtech may encourage innovation and localized adaptation of solutions.
Nigeria’s digital education efforts echo international trends seen in places such as the UK and the USA. The United Kingdom government has set aside £1 million for the development of AI tools to mark and provide feedback for teachers, to raise educational standards and help reduce teacher workload, while in Los Angeles, USA, the “Ed” chatbot was launched to help students by offering personalized academic support and effective communication between schools and families.
These are all examples of how AI and automation in education a huge potential has to transform the education system and improve learning outcomes.
Nigeria must strive to exploit its full potential, and the fusion of the digitization of education with AI automation has enormous potential for revolutionizing education in the country.
Working together to leverage this advanced technology, incite innovation, and enact enabling policies, Nigeria can have an education system that is not only inclusive and efficient but also one that is future-ready. It should be further noted that complementing digitization with AI automation would not only empower individual learners but also contribute to the country’s socio-economic development by creating a workforce capable of responding to challenges presented by the digital era.
