Introduction

Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the way we do everything, including education. In the strive for equity in assessment, many teachers and administrators are looking at AI to improve grading and reduce bias. But is this indeed even possible? And if so, how will it work? This article will delve into some of the ways AI can be used in the classroom by answering these questions and exploring further possibilities.

The Issue of AI in Assessment

  • AI can be biased: 

AI only is unbiased on the basis of training data and is not immune to biases. When the data contains biases, including gender or cast then AI becomes biased in the process of assessment and creates unfair outcomes for certain individuals and groups. Additionally, it is essential to fairly evaluate students and mitigate biases in the system that is based on AI to make sure the assessment is fair enough for everyone.

  • AI can overlay on quantitive metrics: 

It shows reliance on quantitative-based data and metrics however, overlooks qualitative aspects of learning which include interpersonal skills, personal growth, or thinking process. AI can lack cotextual understanding which means it lacks the ability to properly inculcate the context of assessment such as creativity and skills of critical thinking. 

  • AI can only provide limited feedback and personalization:

Since personalized guidance and feedback are important in learning but AI-based assessment does not successfully provide insights into the improvement and effective learning. 

AI-based assessment may encounter various other issues that have to be considered to ensure better, accuracy, fairness, and unbiased results. The challenges may include, data quality, and bias in training data.  

Why Do Schools Use AI?

Most of schools adopt AI systems for various potential benefits however, it is important to ensure ethical and responsible implementations. Educational institutions require to address certain concerns for data privacy, biases, and transparency to positively impact the educational system. Here are the reasons why schools use AI:

  • AI provides a personalized learning experience for individual students based on the trained data. 
  • AI enhance assessment system and grading. The automation processes save teachers time and extra effort. 
  • AI gives you data-driven insights which enable teachers to make evidence-based well-informed decisions. Moreover, making edits and adjustments to the curriculum is easier than ever. 
  • AI-powered virtual tuitions and chatbots are a great assistance to students to learn immediately. For instance, ChatGPT is a great AI-powered tool to help its users with the answers to their questions, explanations, and learning material instantly. 
  • AI brings accessibility and inclusion solutions such as text-to-speech and speech-to-text approaches. 
  • AI provides early warnings and predictive analytics by analyzing historical data. This helps schools to improve the educational system. 

AI is being used widely in educational institutions for grading purposes, however, it is not a one-size-fits-all solution. In fact, it is important to recognize that the efficiency of AI depends on the quality of data it receives. The dynamic machine learning model comes with significant challenges. For instance, if an algorithm is trained to identify photos of dogs and cats but is provided with a training set that includes other animals like horses and cows. Consequently, it might mistakenly perceive all these creatures as similar entities. In case, you want your students to learn about various kinds of animals on the basis of physical characteristics then this could not be the ideal approach. 

What Does AI Look Like in Education?

In education, AI is used for the purpose to assess student work and teacher performance. It provides numerous opportunities to learn and aids to their growth.

In the classroom, by evaluating the quality of an essay or math problem based on its structure or syntax, AI can grade assignments and assessments. In addition, writing an essay with Microsoft Word's grammar checker turned on, then you know that it will flag any sentence fragments or fragments with extra words as errors. The same goes for spelling errors, Artificial intelligence identifies and eradicates issues. Another great example of an AI-powered tool is Grammarly which is an excellent way to perfectly write error-free content with the learning suggestions the problem solved. 

Some forms of AI in assessment can help reduce bias, but more research is needed.

While AI in assessment can help reduce bias, further research is necessary to know the effect of AI on student learning. For example, a recent study found that students who use an automated essay scoring (AES) system score lower than those who do not use it. This could be due to the shorter essays and rely less on supporting evidence. This clearly represents that the teachers have to be aware enough of the impacts of technology on the writing ability of their students and teach them how to effectively utilize it.

In addition to acknowledging the negative effects of using potential technologies such as AESs, teachers should also consider possible ways in which these tools might improve classroom practices. 

Conclusion

AI in assessment is a topic that attracts the attention and interest of educators. Whilst it is still too early to say whether AI will transform the grading of students' performance, it could potentially help reduce the biases that teachers have when they grade assignments. With more research and development into this technology, we may witness more schools embracing AI-based systems for grading in the future.