The UK\u2019s first \u201cteacherless\u201d GCSE class, using artificial intelligence instead of human teachers, is about to start lessons.<\/p>\n
David Game College, a private school in London, opens its new teacherless course for 20 GCSE students in September.<\/p>\n
The students will learn using a mixture of artificial intelligence<\/strong> platforms on their computers and virtual reality<\/strong> headsets.<\/p>\n The platforms learn what the student excels in and what they need more help with, and then adapt their lesson plans for the term.<\/p>\n Strong topics are moved to the end of term so they can be revised, while weak topics will be tackled more immediately, and each student\u2019s lesson plan is bespoke to them.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are many excellent teachers out there but we\u2019re all fallible,\u201d said John Dalton, the school\u2019s co-principal.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s very difficult to achieve [AI\u2019s] level of precision and accuracy, and also that continuous evaluation.<\/p>\n \u201cUltimately, if you really want to know exactly why a child is not learning, I think the AI systems can pinpoint that more effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n The 20 students will pay around \u00a327,000 a year.<\/p>\n \u201cA teacher doesn\u2019t really know your flaws because he has so many students,\u201d said Joseph, a GCSE student at David Game College who has been testing the system.<\/p>\n \u201cSo he doesn\u2019t know your flaws while the AI will figure out what your flaws are and help you improve.\u201d<\/p>\n The students are not just left to fend for themselves in the classroom; three \u201clearning coaches\u201d will be present to monitor behaviour and give support.<\/p>\n They will also teach the subjects AI currently struggles with, like art and sex education.<\/p>\n Alexander Vansittart, a former Latin teacher who taught SEN students, has joined the college to become a learning coach.<\/p>\n \u201cI got really excited about what this could do for young people, how it could help them change their lives. That\u2019s why I applied for the job; because I believe this will change lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n However, the idea of handing over children\u2019s education to artificial intelligence is controversial.<\/p>\n Chris McGovern is a retired head teacher and a former advisor to the policy unit at 10 Downing Street. He now runs the Campaign for Real Education and says although AI has a role to play in the classroom, this takes it too far.<\/p>\n \u201cI understand why [schools] may push AI. For one thing, it\u2019s cheaper,\u201d he said, although David Game College denies this is a cheaper approach than its traditional teaching, saying it has actually hired more personnel to run the course.<\/p>\n \u201cThe problem with AI and the computer screen is that it is a machine and it\u2019s inert, so you\u2019re straight away dehumanising the process of learning, taking away those interpersonal skills and the interaction between pupils and teacher,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a soulless, bleak future if it\u2019s going to be along the AI path only.\u201d<\/p>\n Artificial intelligence is already used in classrooms around the country, helping to bring subjects to life, assisting with lesson plans for example.<\/p>\n In fact, on Wednesday, the government announced a new project to help teachers use AI more precisely. A bank of anonymised lesson plans and curriculums will now be used to train different educational AI models which will then help teachers mark homework and plan out their classes.<\/p>\n \u201cArtificial Intelligence, when made safe and reliable, represents an exciting opportunity to give our schools\u2019 leaders and teachers a helping hand with classroom life,\u201d said Stephen Morgan, minister for early education.<\/p>\n But at this college, AI is not just giving a helping hand, it\u2019s taking the reins.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The UK\u2019s first \u201cteacherless\u201d GCSE class, using artificial intelligence instead of human teachers, is about…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3604,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}