"AI + Education", Play a Good First Move ("Integration" View of China)

Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition

The iterative upgrading and accelerated application of artificial intelligence technology (AI) has led to profound changes in the education industry. From digital human teaching assistants to Q&A models, from classroom big data analysis systems to smart learning platforms, from intelligent translation to digital sports coaching...... "AI+ education" has a wide range of application scenarios, injecting scientific and technological momentum into the quality and efficiency of education.

What is the current status of "AI + education", what difficulties still need to be overcome, and what will be the trend in the future?

foundation

"Large language model" to accelerate development

"Teacher Xiaobei, why is the earth round?" and "Why do crucian carp keep their eyes open when they sleep?" At Beijing East Road Primary School in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, every time the bell rings, students can be seen surrounding a one-person-high electronic screen, competing to ask questions to the "digital teacher" named "Xiaobei".

The "Teacher Xiaobei" on the screen has a neat hairstyle, a square face, a white shirt, a red lesson plan, a smile on his face, and answers questions for students without hurry. The students had a wide variety of questions, whether it was Chinese, mathematics, astronomy or geography.

Not long ago, in the class of "Power System Basics" of the School of Automation of Tianjin University, an "AI teaching assistant" was ushered in. This is a digital teaching assistant jointly developed by Professor Liu Yanli of Tianjin University and iFLYTEK. This "AI teaching assistant" is composed of two systems: one is the "digital teacher" and the other is the "Q&A model".

"'Digital Teacher' is a virtual digital person simulated by the image of a teacher. Liu Yanli introduced, "The teaching video of the 'digital teacher' does not need to be recorded by the teacher himself, as long as the courseware handouts are imported into the background, the teaching video can be quickly generated." The 'digital teacher' can also match the homework library based on the learning data collected in the classroom, analyze the learning engagement and goal achievement of different students, and achieve personalized and accurate teaching. ”

"Q&A Model" is a man-machine dialogue model system, and students can log in through mobile phones, tablets or computers to achieve interactive Q&A and supplementary learning. The system can give students professional, accurate and detailed answers according to their personalized learning and Q&A demands. "The system also has a very practical function, which is to help students complete academic self-tests according to different needs, and form 'one person, one case' learning suggestions. Liu Yanli said.

The development of generative artificial intelligence technology has enabled various application scenarios of "AI + education" to land on campus. In foreign language classes, "digital translation" will switch between various languages in real time to teach and score students' pronunciation; in mathematics classes, the intelligent analysis system can quickly analyze students' knowledge shortcomings according to the steps on the test papers; in physical education classes, intelligent robots can help students complete self-physical fitness tests and provide comprehensive analysis of sports data...... AI has entered the daily classroom and become a powerful assistant for teachers to teach and teach, bringing a new experience to traditional education.

Why has "AI + education" made significant progress in recent years? This is closely related to the development of a number of large language models in the field of artificial intelligence. The so-called "large language model" refers to a deep learning model trained on massive text data, which can complete tasks that only humans could do in the past in terms of content generation. Alibaba Cloud's "Tongyi Qianwen", iFLYTEK's "Xinghuo", Kunlun Wanwei's "Tiangong...... In 2023, a number of domestic enterprises and institutions will successively release large language models and open them to the public, and the field of artificial intelligence will develop by leaps and bounds. According to data from the CCID Research Institute of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, as of the beginning of 2024, there are more than 19 large language model R&D manufacturers in China, of which 15 manufacturers' model products have passed the record. With general capabilities such as language comprehension, logical reasoning, knowledge question answering, and text generation, these large language model products have created a whirlwind in the field of education as soon as they are launched.

With the help of artificial intelligence and other technologies, China's digital education industry has grown rapidly, and the global digital education development index released by the Chinese Academy of Education Sciences shows that China's ranking has jumped from 24th to 9th in three years.

"This year, the convergence of artificial general intelligence with other frontier areas is expected to play a key role. Yu Youcheng, deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Artificial Intelligence Society, said that Chinese artificial intelligence has been widely empowered to intelligent education and other application fields.

kinetic energy

Coordinated promotion at the national level

The application of artificial intelligence technology in the education industry not only effectively improves the quality of teaching, classroom experience and learning efficiency, but also makes education accessible to more people and helps solve the imbalance and inadequacy of education.

"Students, some time ago, you read "The Chinese Dream of One Hundred Children", and today I would like you to talk about your feelings after reading. In a reading class at Beijing No. 2 Experimental Primary School, the teacher said to the students. Surprisingly, the students who raised their hands to answer were not only from Beijing itself, but also from the Lanzhou branch of the university. Although they are thousands of miles apart, with the help of intelligent technology, it is like being in the same classroom, and the atmosphere of discussion is very lively.

This is a "smart classroom" displayed at the launching ceremony of the special action of digital education integration, intelligence and internationalization and the "Year of Expansion and Quality Improvement" held by the Ministry of Education a few days ago. Through the intelligent system, students can cross mountains and seas and receive the same education.

With the help of artificial intelligence to improve the inclusiveness of education, Cheng Qun, vice president of Ape Tutoring Group and president of the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, also has a similar experience.

"In a remote mountain school, when a student asks what the theory of relativity is, the local teacher can't answer, but the AI can explain it with an easy-to-understand story. Cheng Qun said that the application of artificial intelligence in the field of education has brought changes to many children, and even solved the problem of some students dropping out of school by improving their interest in learning.

In the critical period of digital transformation of education, the application of artificial intelligence technology is crucial. However, unlike the application mode dominated by the Internet and multimedia technology in the past, the "education digitalization" under the guidance of artificial intelligence has the characteristics of high technical threshold, wide application range, and large popularization investment, which needs to be coordinated and promoted at the national level in order to play a good first move.

In order to promote the application of artificial intelligence in the field of education in the top-level design, the relevant state departments have vigorously promoted the implementation of the "AI + education" project. The Ministry of Education recently announced 184 artificial intelligence education bases for primary and secondary schools, aiming to further explore new concepts, new models and new solutions for artificial intelligence education through the pilot of the bases. Localities are also encouraging the application of AI technology to education. For example, Beijing has issued the "Beijing Action Plan for Promoting the Integrated Development of Artificial Intelligence and Education", and the Tianjin Municipal Education Commission and other departments have jointly formulated the "Several Measures for Strengthening Science Education in Primary and Secondary Schools in the New Era in Tianjin", which clearly proposes to explore the use of artificial intelligence, virtual reality and other technical means to improve and optimize experimental teaching.

What has attracted much social attention is that the Ministry of Education has recently made it clear that it will launch an artificial intelligence empowerment education action and create a special large model for generative artificial intelligence education.

It is understood that this large model will give full play to the leading advantages of colleges and universities in scientific research, knowledge accumulation, large-scale application, etc., and complete the model development through four links: build a model base to solve the problem of "whether there is one"; organize first-class schools to scientifically train the model to solve the problem of "whether it will be"; mobilize teachers and students to crowd test and optimize the model to solve the problem of "whether it is excellent or not"; focus on business needs, promote the application of the model, and solve the problem of "strong or not".

On this basis, we adhere to the concept of "application is king", create the best intelligent application, and based on the advantages of knowledge reserve in the field of education, give priority to promoting vertical applications in 10 scenarios, including mathematics, atmospheric science, biology, mechanics, software engineering, control science and engineering, clinical medicine, pharmacy, law, and applied economics.

"The Ministry of Education launched a demonstration action for the application of artificial intelligence models in the education system, created a special model for generative education, and strived to create a demonstration benchmark for industry models through stronger algorithms, better corpus, and better services. Wu Yan, Vice Minister of Education, said.

direction

Scientific and standardized application

The application of new technologies in a field often coexists with opportunities and challenges. The application of artificial intelligence in education is no exception. At present, the domestic intelligent education platform has covered many education and teaching resources, making more education scenarios more active, more linked, and more radiating. However, to a certain extent, these applications have problems such as insufficient system design, low degree of openness, and imperfect innovation ecology.

"Now that the state is vigorously advocating the digital transformation of education, it will also give some financial support, and many schools have purchased advanced artificial intelligence equipment and software. However, from the perspective of the teaching frontline, AI technology is rarely used, and only a few teachers are trying. Many teachers don't know how to use it and don't want to participate in the training organized by the school, so these devices can only be idle. Hu Jing, a middle school teacher in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, believes that the advent of the era of artificial intelligence has put forward higher requirements for teachers. For example, in the face of miscellaneous artificial intelligence technology, how to effectively select and use it appropriately, how to make the teaching mode more accurate in the face of refined analysis of big data, and how to deal with the diversified learning channels and broad horizons brought by artificial intelligence technology to students?

It's not just the teachers who are challenged, but the students as well. Recently, "AI + homework" has become a hot topic in society. When students use AI, assignments that used to take a lot of time to complete can be answered in seconds with just one click.

Will "AI + homework" become a "lazy artifact"? Many parents are worried about this. A few days ago, Ms. Wang, from Beijing, noticed that her daughter, who is in junior high school, was writing an essay when she quietly opened her phone and downloaded a generative AI software. After the daughter typed in the essay topic and generated the text, she copied it verbatim in the homework book.

"Writing essays is about real feelings, and it examines students' writing skills. If children use AI for a long time in order to save trouble, they will develop inertia in their thinking, not only will they not be able to form their own thinking, but they will also become dependent on AI. Ms. Wang voiced her concerns.

"Using AI to copy answers is ultimately a matter of management and guidance, and cannot be blamed solely on AI. To a certain extent, AI is conducive to reducing students' academic burden, and what we need to do is to guide students to use AI rationally, so that it can be used in a standardized, scientific way, and not abused. Hu Jing said.

In fact, similar problems are prevalent around the world. In September 2023, UNESCO released the Guidelines for Generative AI in Education and Research, calling on governments to regulate the use of generative AI in education by enacting regulations and training teachers. The document recommends setting the minimum age for using AI tools in the classroom at 13 years old and calls for teachers to be trained.

"AI creates opportunities for the education system, but it needs to ensure that the interests of learners are prioritized. Anna Cristina Dadeou, Director of UNESCO's 2023 Global Education Monitoring Report, said.

"Artificial intelligence is the focus of international competition and a new engine for economic development in the future, which not only brings new challenges to the education sector, but also provides new teaching tools and resources. Cai Xinyuan, director of the Key Laboratory of Light and Shadow Interactive Service Technology of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, said that this should be taken as an opportunity to guide and cultivate students' independent thinking ability and innovation ability to adapt to the development and needs of new technologies and new environments.

"Artificial intelligence empowering education has become an inevitable trend, and we should stick to the original intention of education and prevent technology from overriding education. Zheng Qinghua, president of Tongji University and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said. (Reporter Lu Zehua)

People's Daily Overseas Edition (2024-04-29 Edition 08)