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Personalise learning with generative AI

Generative AI can help your students adapt the course material to their individual needs, aiding them much like a personal tutor would do. It can also help make course material accessible to students with a wide range of disabilities.

Generative AI makes personalised learning possible on a much larger scale than before, which helps solve the ineffectiveness of the traditional “one-size-fits-all” approach to education. The promise of a personalized learning experience is that every student would enjoy a unique educational approach that is tailored to their individual abilities and needs. This could directly increase students’ motivation and reduce their likelihood of dropping out.

Personal tutoring aid

Generative AI can be used as a personal tutoring aid for students in higher education in various ways. This is relevant knowledge for you as a teacher, since it can help you support your students to find adequate aid. For example, students can ask a generative AI to:  

  • analyse and adapt their learning process
  • explain and interpret complex problems
  • adapt or alter learning material to their own preference
  • help improve their language abilities
  • provide feedback on their work.

For these examples we need to know in what ways generative AI can aid students and what risks there are. As a teacher you might want to discuss with your students how to use it in a meaningful way.

Analyse and adapt their learning process

AI algorithms can analyse a students' performance and identify areas where they struggle, providing targeted support to help them overcome these challenges. This allows for a more individualized learning experience, tailored to each student's strengths and weaknesses.  

Many digital learning platforms already have algorithms that calculate which content each student needs to practice more. Using AI, it is possible to create even better adaptive learning environments that help students understand their own learning processes and patterns better. This can lead to more effective studying strategies and better support for all students.

Explain and interpret complex problems

Generative AI applications are good at explaining complex problems, for example concerning mathematics, programming or natural science. However, students should be aware that most language models today (such as ChatGPT) are not specifically trained on math or code. They are trained on data in the form of text which sometimes contain explanations of mathematical or other complex problems. Therefore, they do not have actual knowledge on the subject and might give incorrect answers or explanations. If students use it, they should always verify that the output is correct.

Adapt or alter learning material according to preferences

Generative AI can be used by students to alter learning materials, for instance summarize lengthy articles. This makes it easier for students to understand the main points and retain information. There are other generative AI tools that can alter other types of material as well, for instance pictures, videos, or audio.

The case of OpenUni

OpenUni is a free and open-source tool that can watch a video lecture and answer specific questions or summarize the content. OpenUni is developed by a student here at KTH, aiming to help other students study more efficiently by aiding their lecture re-watching process.

A risk when altering material is that the alteration might change the content too much and miss the main points. Students need to be aware of this limitation when adapting or altering their learning material.

Help improve students' language abilities

Generative AI can be used as a language learning tool, helping students practice and improve their language skills. This is useful not only for improving academic language but also for non-native language speakers, students with dyslexia or students with social communication difficulties.  

Natural language processing (NLP) is a field withing machine learning which enables AI-powered tools to understand and interpret human language. Such tools can, for example, provide real-time feedback on a student's written work. For students with dyslexia or other language-related learning disabilities, this can be particularly helpful.  

Students with social communication difficulties can use AI tools for social scripting, helping them navigate conversations and develop social skills.

Provide feedback

Students can use generative AI to get feedback on their work, for example, get an essay proofread. Read more about this on the page Improve feedback using generative AI .

Support students with disabilities

Earlier on this page, we talked about the variety of personal tutoring possibilities that generative AI can provide. Note that these are useful for all students, but necessary for some. Generative AI has the potential to revolutionize the way students with disabilities are supported in their learning process. By providing personalized learning and enhancing accessibility, AI can help create a more effective and inclusive educational environment.  

There are many assistive technology tools today that are used to help students with various disabilities. Generative AI can help improve these tools, such as improve text-to-speech, speech recognition, predictive spelling, and text editing. They could then better help students work around their challenges and leverage their strengths.

Provide accessible material

Generative AI can be used to improve the accessibility of learning materials for students with visual or hearing impairments. For example, AI-powered tools can convert text to speech or provide real-time interpretations for deaf students. Note that such tools should not be used as a substitute for creating accessible material, but as a complement.  

Ethical concerns

Despite the potential benefits of generative AI in education, there are also concerns about its use. Some view generative AI as a cheating tool and a threat to academic integrity. Universities and academics have shown skepticism about it, questioning its effectiveness and reliability. Additionally, there are concerns that students will rely too heavily on generative AI tools and not learn to produce original content. It is essential to teach students how to use generative AI responsibly, ethically and efficiently .

Further reading

Tutoring:

Support students with disabilities:

General advice: