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Student Safety ≥ Student Privacy?
Student safety isn’t the only concern for the 50 million k-12 students who will return to school this month. Now, they have to deal with data protection, too.
According to Quartz, every school in the US that receives federal funding is required to have an internet-safety policy and this year, that policy is being carried out by artificial intelligence.
Safety Management Platforms like Gaggle, Securly, and GoGuardian, use NLP (natural language processing) to track every word typed on school computers. If a word or phrase indicates bullying or self-harm behavior, it gets flagged for human administrators to review.
These platforms have helped to stop both school shootings and suicides, but at what cost?
Girard Kelly, director of privacy review at Common Sense Media, elaborates, “Not only are there metal detectors and cameras in the schools, but now their learning objectives and emails are being tracked too.”
This new technology has two battles to fight: student safety and data privacy. Which will prevail? Read the full story here.
IBM Watson: Coming to a Classroom Near You
IBM announced a strategic partnership with Scholastic and Edmodo on their blog last month that intends to bridge the gap between teachers’ expectations and students’ learning capabilities.
By integrating these platforms, teachers will have more tools to effectively help their students learn and perform to the best of their abilities.
“By using AI as an added assistant in the classroom, our goal is to encourage lifelong learning where each person is met with the individualized tools they need to succeed in school and beyond,” reads the blog.
In partnering with Scholastic, IBM’s Watson Education platform will receive media, articles and nonfiction content from Scholastic Go and ScienceFlix libraries. It will use machine learning to recommend personalized content to students, catered to their individual needs.
Edmodo and IBM are collaborating to build a “personalized content recommendation engine.” Teachers and students on Edmodo will receive content and resource recommendations aligned with grade levels, ages and interests.
These integrations are just a taste of how artificial intelligence can positively impact education.
AI Technologies Students and Teachers Should Know About
AI has the potential to completely disrupt the traditional one-size-fits-all model used in classrooms today. As noted in the story above, personalized learning experiences are happening now.
The Tech Edvocate shared a list of five AI technologies being used in classrooms today. Check out our favorites below.
Content Technologies, Inc. uses deep learning to create textbooks customized to specific courses and its students. Using algorithms, CTI’s AI engine is able to piece together personalized textbooks and create custom coursework for teachers based entirely on their syllabi.
Carnegie Learning’s Mika is an AI-powered tutoring app for students that specializes in higher education. Attempting to fill gaps in lecture-sized classrooms, Mika is guided by each student’s unique learning process and adapts lessons to their specific struggles.
Ashley Sams
Ashley Sams is director of marketing at Ready North. She joined the agency in 2017 with a background in marketing, specifically for higher education and social media. Ashley is a 2015 graduate of The University of Mount Union where she earned a degree in marketing.