People have been attempting to predict the future since the earliest reaches of human history. The Oracle at Delphi, Nostradamus, tarot card readers, and many more have dedicated their entire lives to peering through the mists of time. Today, the internet is rife with amateur crystal ball gazers throwing out AI predictions. These predictions range from Utopian fantasy worlds to the robot apocalypse. Here at EdTech Evolved, we’re interested in a narrower scope. Specifically, how will AI change the way we interact with educational technology?
You don’t need an all-seeing third eye to predict the immediate future of artificial intelligence. We can already see its influence all around us. It’s not too much of a leap to draw conclusions about where it’s going next.
1. AI Will Flatten the EdTech Learning Curve
“Fidelity” is a familiar word in the world of edtech. Are products being used correctly, for the right amount of time, and with the right frequency? More often than not, fidelity comes down to teacher comfort levels with the technology they’re asked to use. Training, PD, and self-service tutorials can all work to build confidence. They’re also time-consuming and often not granular or context-sensitive enough to cover all possible use cases or scenarios.
AI has the potential to serve as an ad hoc assistant for all edtech users, including students and families. This capability already exists to some extent in a number of popular platforms. Because it’s something that benefits both the user and the provider, we expect it to only get better and more widespread.
Imagine
It’s 2029. You’re a third-grade teacher who just finished a lesson on using place value understanding to round whole numbers to the nearest 10 or 100. You want to assign some practice and an exit ticket to your students. You’re sure you saw how to do this in your training at the start of the school year. Now you’re looking at your screen and blanking.
You think back on when you used to have to dig through the software’s documentation. You remember the days of Googling answers, and are hit with a brief wave of nostalgia. Today, you simply open a chat box and tell the software “I need a practice lesson and brief assessment on rounding numbers to the nearest 10 or 100.” Within seconds, your screen refreshes and a handful of relevant resources present themselves to you.
AI assistants are easy to set up and easy to train right now. As with most AI predictions, he only barrier to more widespread adoption is scalability. In this case, the cost to integrate with the most popular large language models can be prohibitive. Providers have to pay for every API call, which basically means every prompt and response costs money. We fully expect those costs to drop as the technology becomes more efficient. When that happens, AI assistants will become the norm, providing just-in-time support when we need it most.
2. AI Will Interpret and Translate Our Data For Us
Data literacy has historically proven to be a barrier to teachers and administrators looking to get the most out of their edtech stacks. The steps between “here is your raw data” and “here are the decisions we’re going to make based on that data” are often cumbersome and require highly specialized knowledge of what it all means. Generative AI has the potential to bridge that gap. Whether you’re a teacher trying to reach a struggling student, or a district curriculum leader trying to identify which investments have the strongest impact on student learning, the possibilities are vast.
The bar is continuously being raised for edtech providers to expand, simplify, and customize their reporting tools. Every school and district has different metrics they prioritize. Everyone has different ways they want to slice, group, and aggregate their data. Generative AI will mitigate the need for custom development, manual SQL queries, and universal data literacy. The industry standard for “reporting” will evolve from static charts and dashboards to conversational inquiry and real-time analysis. Think Iron Man asking Jarvis for status reports, but on a slightly less superheroic scale.
Imagine
It’s 2029. You’re the Assistant Superintendent of Student Services at a large school district. You’ve been piloting some new and innovative ways to reduce your rates of chronic absenteeism. Five years ago, you might have had to work with the district’s data management team to identify the reports you needed. Your instructions would need to be clear about the specific ways you needed to filter and sort the data.
You shake your head, wondering how anybody ever got anything done back in the day. You open the reporting dialogue screen in your SIS and ask “How do our chronic absenteeism rates from January 1 to March 31 compare to the same time period last year? Break it down for me by elementary, middle, and high schools. I’m also interested to know how absenteeism rates for our English language learners compare to the general population. Is there any correlation between parent portal logins and attendance? Provide three-year comparison charts for reference.”
Fortunately, your friendly AI assistant has been trained on your district’s data definitions, initiatives, and objectives. You know your request will be understood and accurately processed. Within minutes, you’re looking at a beautiful custom dashboard created on the fly for this very specific purpose. The dialogue box hums with a summary of the reports generated, clarification of what each report means, and key highlights from the data. You’re now fully equipped for your department meeting two rooms over that starts in 15 minutes.
AI Analytics tools are already making their way into the K-12 market. One of the most intriguing early entrants is PowerSchool’s PowerBuddy. It combines elements of chatbot and data delver to “break down data silos” in a school district. PowerSchool’s strong market share makes it the most likely entry point for most admins testing the waters on predictive insights and narrative reporting across their technology tools. This category has the potential to flip from “AI predictions” to “AI reality” by next school year.
3. AI Will Anticipate What You Need When You Need It
Have you ever grabbed your phone to do something, only to see a suggested action and shortcut leading you to the exact task you wanted to accomplish? Those hints of omniscience can be a bit creepy the first few times you experience them. That said, they sure do make life easier when the algorithm gets it right. You may already be noticing similar suggestions in your favorite social media apps and web browsers.
Because this technology is already embedded in our lives, it feels pretty low-risk relative to some more pie-in-the-sky AI predictions. One can easily imagine the benefits in most practical applications of edtech.
Imagine
It’s 2029. You’re a middle school special education teacher. You log into your SIS or IEP management system before heading home on Friday. You’re immediately greeted with two time-based shortcuts:
- Update Samantha Sample’s IEP (based on the fact that her annual IEP review date is approaching)
- Enter a new eval report (because you normally enter your evals on Friday afternoons)
You’re thankful your administration upgraded to this new program last year. You remember the complex labyrinth of clicks in the old software. Now all you have to do is tap on one of these shortcuts to get exactly where you need to be. What’s more, initiating one of these actions leads to a series of tasks the program knows are related to that action.
The suggestions aren’t just shortcuts, either. They also serve as reminders of what you should be doing next. That part is way more helpful than you’d like to admit. You’re generally a very organized person, but these past few weeks have been crazy. You haven’t had much time to think about paperwork.
It’s just a matter of time before most technology tools are capable of predicting what you want to do and helping you clear a path to get there. EdTech doesn’t always move as fast as Apple or Meta, but providers know how important user experience is. This is one of those AI predictions likely to be fast-tracked for the purpose of competitive advantage. Anything that helps users get what they need quicker will make them more likely to come back the next time.
The EdTech Transformation is Happening Fast – Are You Ready?
Every one of these AI predictions is based on technology that already exists. There is a significant competitive advantage for those providers who have the flexibility to live on the cutting edge. Ease of use is a top priority for teachers and administrators alike. AI will undoubtedly be a driving force in breaking down the traditional barriers that have long separated “power users” from the rest.
Imagine a world where technology is proactive about helping you. A world in which you no longer need to interpret data before acting on it. A world where click paths are optional and context-sensitive shortcuts are the norm. That’s the future in sight, promised by the next evolution of AI in edtech.
Feeling out of the loop? Subscribe to EdTech Evolved for monthly updates on trending topics, with an emphasis on AI in education.
