Digital assistant technology is rapidly evolving, offering students and educators a richer classroom experience. With advanced tech integration and remote voice control of multiple classroom devices, users are no longer tied to their desks. Digital assistants allow optimizing workload for teachers and provide simple tools for classroom management. As a result, teachers get more time to connect with students and provide personalized learning support and mentorship instead of wasting their time on routine admin tasks.
AI-based digital assistants have become more accessible. Some of them are familiar to most tech users. These are Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana, and Google’s Google Now. However, there are also technologies like Merlyn Mind that are designed specifically for use in the education sector.
Digital assistants find a wide variety of applications in the classroom, promoting a more flexible experience for learners and educators. Here’s how they can empower educational practices.
6 Ways to Use Digital Assistant Technology in the Classroom
-
Answer Questions
Students no longer need to wait to get their questions answered or even type their search queries to find information online. It’s enough to voice your question and get it answered immediately by a digital assistant. It uses a search empowered by AI, which means that the results and recommendations will be aligned with the learning objectives and needs of a student.
By leveraging digital assistance technology, educators change the way students interact with information. The learning technology helps students navigate research. According to academic writers from Domyessay.com, this is the fundamental part of pursuing a degree. Research allows students to broaden their experience and gain an in-depth understanding of the learning material. Therefore, it’s crucial to give them digital assistance tools that will help them find the right information and build knowledge.
-
Empower Classroom Management
Digital assistants are designed to make a teacher’s job easier by streamlining mundane admin tasks. Teachers spend a great deal of their working day analyzing attendance, photocopying, producing class lists, keeping various records, etc. This takes away the precious time they can otherwise use to give students some extra support and attention.
Digital assistants can grade tests and quizzes, answer some frequently asked questions based on factual information, produce lists, as well as keep records of student attendance, performance, and other parameters. AI solutions make instruction more efficient and allow teachers to focus on their direct job duties.
-
Improve Instruction and Learning Support
As digital assistants are data-driven, they provide insights into the effectiveness of instruction. Teachers might not always notice students’ confusion with a certain topic or gaps in their previous knowledge. However, when learning technology becomes an integral part of the classroom environment, educators can track the slightest changes in their performance.
This also allows identifying gaps in course design and instruction that cause students to underperform. For example, if a majority of students struggle with a particular task, a digital assistant notifies the educator about the problem and sends students some extra resources to help them handle the task.
Today many schools have yet to introduce advanced learning support for students, but a lot of resources are available online. For example, if you have difficulty completing your homework, you can pay for essay writing and enjoy professional academic support. You’ll get a well-researched draft and learn how to handle similar tasks the next time around.
-
Support Individualized Learning
Large class sizes are a common issue in schools today. Often teachers have to manage more than 30 students, which makes it impossible to pay attention to everyone and ensure a proper level of personalization.
AI-based digital assistants have the potential to provide much-needed support for teachers and help them track student performance. This includes identifying knowledge gaps and adjusting learning content to the needs of an individual. The tech is highly responsive to the needs of learners, allowing them to repeat certain topics on demand and adjust the pace of learning whenever it is needed. It can also help them navigate any course through a series of reminders and tips, making the experience more personalized.
-
Provide Feedback
A digital assistant can also be useful as an assessment and monitoring tool. We’ve already mentioned that it can easily handle grading tests. However, aside from providing scores, it can also give students feedback on their performance. This includes feedback upon completion of individual assignments and entire courses.
The technology helps to increase self-assessment and awareness among students. Immediate feedback from digital assistants allows them to improve their learning strategies in the process without the need to wait till the end of the course to get a teacher’s grade and feedback on their achievements. With timely assistance, students reach much better learning outcomes in the long term.
-
Promote Inclusion
Technology makes the classroom more inclusive. With the 24/7 availability of digital assistants, students with special needs may get the necessary academic support whenever they need it. For example, visually impaired people can benefit from digital assistants as the technology responds to commands issued via voice. They can get answers to fact-based questions and get an AI reading assistant to turn a text into speech.
Besides, digital assistants are multilingual that allows them to support language learners who may struggle to follow classroom discussions due to the language barrier. They provide translation and spelling support and help to verify pronunciation.
Digital assistants are also useful to students who struggle with technology. Easy use and voice control make the experience more comprehensible, even for people who lack tech skills completely. This way, digital assistants make people more comfortable with technology and encourage them to explore the features it can offer, facilitating the process all along.
To Sum Up
Digital assistant technologies are bringing a wealth of resources to the classroom. A few years from now, they are expected to become commonplace in the education sector. This might completely change learning and instruction.
The use of digital assistance by no means downplays the role of a teacher in the classroom. Yet, it has the potential to support their work and give them the freedom to focus on personalization and adaptability instead of routine tasks. Students get more learning support, timely feedback, and the possibility to access smart content and research. Thus, the functionality of digital assistants has everything to make life easier for students and educators and bring about massive changes in schools.
Add Comment