Artificial Intelligence in Education and the Future We Can Already Touch

Technology has been evolving rapidly for some time now. Concepts like 5G and the IoT (Internet of Things), with machines connected instantly, no longer seem like distant futures, even though our preparation is still lacking and the uncertainties about their impact on our lives are enormous.

In autumn of 2022, I had the opportunity to participate once again in an Erasmus+ project linked to the Antoni de Martí i Franquès secondary and high school. the project, led by artificial intelligence researcher Héðinn Steingrímsson, is supported by the VMA and MTR vocational training highschools and educational entities of Iceland, Reykjavik University and the University of Bielefeld in Germany The title of the project, a KA226, is Artificial Intelligence for Everybody – Stronger with AI, and it connects research with the business world, in our case, through the company Skakgreind.

The main goal is to create accessible personalized training through a website designed to offer an enjoyable learning experience and to facilitate repetitive learning behavior (the goal is to observe an increase in participation rates among disadvantaged groups in Europe, including adults). A second goal is to open up doors to artificial intelligence for everyone, with a special emphasis on the disadvantaged part of the European population.

Experiments like Duolingo or the PHET experimentation simulators from the University of Colorado are undoubtedly advancements in this direction, as are canned lessons by teachers like Lluna Pineda in Philosophy or Monvilbay in Catalan Literature or the application for preparing for the PAU exams (university entrance exam), promoted by teachers from our school.

Increasingly, it is important to emphasize that the human factor becomes an essential pillar in this process of change. In Iceland, I was able to converse with an institute in Olfasfjördur that, in a pilot phase, promotes a system of distance baccalaureate and vocational training (similar to our IOC) but has a mixed model with telematic mentoring, meaning that students are not left alone in front of the screen during this challenging distance learning process. This center is also a pilot for Professor Steingrímsson's AI project and highlights how the collaboration of teachers from various European countries benefits an educational support project that uses AI.

At the same time, under the impetus of the Erasmus project Artificial Intelligence for Everybody – Stronger with AI, the Antoni de Martí i Franquès institute in Tarragona (Catalonia-Spain) has launched a committee of teachers for the 2023-24 academic year to evaluate the project but also to reflect and make proposals on how to implement AI in secondary school classrooms in our institutes (the Catalan government itself has published a guide to shed light on this new educational challenge, and the EU and various teachers had previously made a pedagogical proposal for the use of AI). Also, in collaboration with the Rovira i Virgili University and other universities, we are participating in a project to improve digital teaching capacity.

Artificial intelligence is challenging the world as seen through Hume's empiricism: knowledge is no longer found in the sensible reality. The future is bringing us into an increasingly biometric world where computers will interpret our dreams and thoughts based on our iris or heartbeat; and increasingly, they will learn from us to surpass us and leave us without jobs. As in many cases, science fiction novels will only be the prologue to future scientific reality.

The combination of Artificial Intelligence in Education (EdTech) and teaching staff is an unbeatable mix for the educational and social challenges of the present and the future; knowing how to find the right coordination and specific learning weight in each place and problem will be the key to the success of the new educational world. In this regard, the fact that the EU, through the Erasmus project, supports initiatives that seek to create AI support for traditional teaching is the right path. The educational future needs good, tested projects to be more efficient in a new and digital world.

Jordi Satorra