Within the last two years, our perception of education has changed fundamentally. Virtual classrooms, online libraries, and educational platforms have become our everyday activities for gaining knowledge. Being so hooked on e-learning, people realize its advantages and use it to its full potential. Indeed, EdTech provides what we need – an ability to learn considering our interests, irrespective of the place, time and other conditions.

Computers have been our forever loyal companions in the learning journey, but what exactly do we know about machine learning? In a nutshell, ML is an application of artificial intelligence (AI) that allows computers to learn and improve autonomously by analyzing specific circumstances. Machine learning is widely used in education and enhances the educational process for both educators and students. Or does it? Let’s discuss the benefits of ML in Education, its pitfalls, and, of course, its future. 

Pros of Machine Learning in Education 

Personalization

Machine learning considers each student's peculiarities to create a better learning environment. By gathering the data and developing a unique algorithm, ML provides a suitable and accurate study method for the user to adapt. It tracks engagement and comprehension levels, learning pace, personal struggles and achievements that help choose the best learning path. Hence, people have more freedom to manage their time and adjust the learning process conveniently according to their needs and possibilities. Machine learning also offers customized suggestions and recommendations for other materials and classes based on specific preferences. It adapts everything to students' expectations and behavior, analyzing earlier successes or failures, which keeps them motivated to continue learning.

From a teacher’s perspective, ML is an excellent way to get to know their students better: spot both strong and weak sides, collect their reactions towards the delivery of material, class attendance and other information for performance review. Now students, who require more attention and help, will no longer struggle with the learning approaches that were ineffective for them. 

Enhancing Learning Experience

In the era of digitalization, we need to keep up with the latest trends to stay relevant. The same goes with education: it’s getting harder to invest students into the learning process and keep them motivated, using only the traditional way of teaching. Machine learning apps help increase students’ engagement by varying teaching methods. With a wide choice of multimedia usage to create an effective online learning environment, users are allowed to learn with the help of captivating visuals, audio, video, interactive games, and convenient channels for communication. Also, advanced chatbots can help users solve problems when teachers are busy or outside their working hours. ML does sound like good times, and don’t even try to deny it!

Time-saving

The main peculiarity of machine learning is its exceptional flexibility and accessibility. Potential students can enroll in the course at any time of the day, wherever they are. After a few clicks on a smartphone or a computer, users can restore their learning process or connect to the virtual classroom while standing in a queue at the shop or sitting on a comfortable sofa at home. There is no need to be at a specific place to learn, teach and have face-to-face interaction, making a vast difference from more traditional forms of learning.

Delegating tedious tasks is another perk of ML. Thanks to it, teachers can dedicate time to other activities rather than manually grade tests, quizzes, check essays or other assignments for plagiarism, etc. Despite that, machine learning can also make educators’ lives easier by taking care of managing all kinds of reports, and records, creating schedules, reminders and so forth. That’s the job of machine learning: automated, instant and proper! 

Accessibility

In 2022 a high-quality education should be available to everyone. Thanks to machine learning, more and more people worldwide are capable of learning despite different obstacles, such as location, age, physical abilities, financial capacity, language barriers etc. Educational platforms filled with various courses can provide translations to other languages, including voicework/subtitles to different media materials. Due to audience expansion, the more users are included in the learning process, the more profitable it is for the company. 

Anyone can become a student again if they feel nostalgic for doing homework and stressing over tests while balancing personal life, employment and other duties easily. Plus, taking an online course is much cheaper than tuition fees in educational institutions, which makes e-learning one of the best learning solutions.

Cons of Machine Learning in Education 

Absence of Human Factor

For better or for worse, even the most developed ML-powered educational services cannot provide a solution that isn’t coded in their algorithms. Yes, they learn and autonomously improve from their experience. Still, they do not have what we have –  social skills. The practice of computers reviewing more complicated tasks than True/False tests cannot always be sufficient since they may omit many emotional and psychological factors. Due to the automatization of the educational process, there are much fewer teacher/interactions than there used to be, which can sometimes bring more harm than good.

Risk of Major Errors

It's impossible to be sure of the flawless technological products' performance: there's always a chance of downfall. In the case of machine learning, the problem of error is hard to underestimate. The more extensive data we have, the higher options of not-so-obvious bugs that can screw the system to its core. Not only fixing it requires time and costs a fortune, but it can also bring hard times to users and scare them from being your customers. It would be best if you didn't risk trying to save money while creating an adequate educational platform or tool and considered product development wisely.

Future of ML in Education Industry

Machine learning has revolutionized the education industry, enhancing it daily. Regardless of our desires and opinions, ML significantly impacts the education field and opens new doors to many possibilities. According to Valuates Reports, the global EdTech market is expected to reach over $230 billion by 2028 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 15%. The popularity and demand for e-learning are only increasing with no plans of turning back, and this ever-growing demand for e-learning development needs high-quality products. If you doubt whether another ML-powered educational service is relevant, think of all influential modern platforms that once started as educational startups with a huge desire to contribute to the development of education. Find your machine learning development company and choose a path to the brightest future!