Role of Artificial Intelligence in Personalized Adult Learning (2024)

Each person is different, and so is their ability to learn. This becomes more serious when the learner is not a child but an adult. The solution is personalized learning. In other words, tailoring educational content specifically to a person’s preference. 

However, crafting personalized course pathways for each student is no easy task. It requires a dedicated tutor for each student who will study them and meticulously craft a pathway for them. This requires so much time, effort, and manpower that it’s impossible for the common learner to afford. 

Well, AI changes everything. With its Machine Learning Algorithms and Natural Language Processing abilities, AI can analyze individual preferences and craft personal learning pathways. And that, too, within an incredibly short time and low cost. Find out more on how AI can help you with personalized learning. 

How Does AI Help Personalized Learning

AI helps in personalized learning by analyzing the learning pattern of each student. It would then adapt the educational content accordingly. Besides, AI is a teacher you can keep asking questions ceaselessly. It would never lose patience and always come up with the most informative answers. 

Creating Customized Learning 

Artificial Intelligence uses Machine Learning Algorithms to create a personalized learning experience. These algorithms can learn from data and make decisions on it. 

For instance, a student’s track record of academic performance can help an AI system identify their strengths and weaknesses. Thus, customize their learning by focusing more on the points that need attention. 

Machine learning helps AI to design Adaptive Learning systems. In other words, AI can format the course content to match your unique learning pace and difficulty levels.  

Interactive Learning 

What’s missing when you are taking a personalized online course? A classroom full of students and the teacher. As a result, personalized learning can easily feel less interactive than traditional education. However, AI can quickly solve this. 

Thanks to AI’s Natural Language Processing abilities, it can understand how humans use language and act on that understanding. 

For instance, Chatbots in AI learning tools can engage in academic conversations like human classmates or teachers. This can make learning more fun and effective. 

Apart from chatting, AI can provide feedback on your performance. It can also provide suggestions and guidelines for improving in the areas you are lacking. And the best thing is, this advice won’t be generic but suited especially to your needs. 

Predictive Analysis

Machine Learning algorithm uses Predictive Analysis to gain insight into your performance. This helps the AI to predict the potential outcome of your learning. 

As a result, it can intervene early and prevent any negative consequences. That means AI can analyze your learning behavior and tell if you are getting demotivated about the course. It can then take appropriate measures to keep you engaged in the course. 

For instance, some students might master the course’s concepts too quickly. The lack of challenge can make them lose interest. Al can analyze this behavior and increase the difficulty of the material to lure you back into the course. Similarly, it can simplify concepts further if you feel they are too difficult. 

Gamification Elements 

AI can introduce Game Elements in the course to make learning more interesting. The system will design these games based on past performance and behavior patterns. As a result, it will be uniquely suited to the student’s personal preferences. 

Suppose a learner had shown a preference toward visual learning in the past. In that case, AI can use graphical simulations to keep the student engaged in the course. Meanwhile, the AI might focus more on audio explanations if that’s what the student responds to more. 

It can also grant points, rewards, level upgrades, or praise for completing tasks. All these can take the monotonicity out of the learning and make it more exciting for the learner. Plus, studies have shown that gamification increases self-efficacy in students. 

Five Best AI-Powered Platforms for Personalized Learning 

Countless online learning websites market themselves as AI-powered platforms. However, very few of them are authentic and can actually help in personalized learning. Here are our top five picks- 

1. Khan Academy 

Khanmigo is Khan Academy’s proprietary AI tutor. It’s a combination of Artificial Intelligence and Khan Academy’s world-renowned educational content. Khanmigo can adapt to an individual’s unique learning preference and provide a personalized experience. 

The academy itself has been a popular platform for learners for a long time. They provide free online lessons on a range of academic subjects. 

Countless students of various levels have learned math or passed their SATs with the help of Khan Academy’s content. Now, the addition of AI has made the platform more automated. 

Khan Academy is famous for its short, engaging video lessons. However, there are hundreds of useful videos in their library. Thanks to Khanmigo, you don’t have to browse the vast collection to find videos. The AI can detect your needs and pull up the video most relevant to your lesson or query. 

The interactive AI can also keep you engaged and motivated by debates and coaching. It can give you helpful advice on college admissions and career growth. Khanmigo also serves as a worthy AI writing assistant. 

Pros 

• Anyone can afford the platform since most of the content is free 
• The learner gets access to high-quality video lessons from world-class teachers
• Students of all academic stages can find suitable content 
• Makes learning fun through games, stories, and simulations

Cons 

• Requires high-speed internet, which might not be available to everyone
• Lacks human interaction

2. CenturyTech

Century Tech is an advanced personalized learning platform that uses neuroscience and AI technology to bring out the best in students. You can learn English, math, science, geography, and other subjects regardless of academic level. 

The AI tools on the platform can analyze the unique needs and goals of each student and craft a suitable learning pathway. It can also track students’ progress, analyze performance, and provide insights. Educators can use these to monitor students and intervene where necessary. 

Artificial Intelligence has also made it possible for Century Tech to effectively apply neuroscience to its tutoring. 

For instance, it can analyze the interactions on the platform and use it to measure the students’ brain activity. The process is known as Brain Mapping. It helps the platform identify each individual’s optimal learning strategies (visual, auditory, verbal). 

Century Tech also implements Brain Stimulation and Brain Training. The first method uses attractive visual or auditory feedback to guide learners toward the next question and correct answers. 

Meanwhile, Brain Training focuses on improving memory, attention, and other cognitive skills. Dyslexic students and learners with ADHD can benefit from this kind of training.

Pros 

• You can learn fast on this platform thanks to the personalized tutoring style
• The application of neuroscience makes the learning process more scientific and effective
• Doesn’t lack human interaction like many other platforms 
• Automates many of the monotonous tasks educators have to perform

Cons

• The platform isn’t compatible with a wide range of software systems
• Not suitable for subjects that require practical training. 

Price: £1500 per year per college

3. Udacity

Udacity can be an excellent platform if you seek business and technology lessons. The platform lists all the most in-demand skills in these two niches. Completing the courses can help you acquire a certification that employers hold in high regard. And this journey becomes exciting with Udacity’s AI. 

The AI assistant at Udacity is essentially a chatbot. OpenAI, the company that gave the world Chat GPT, powers Udacity’s AI assistant. It’s a GPT-4 Turbo model chatbot. Which means it’s the most advanced and well-informed chatbot of its kind. It can generate coherent educational content on a wide variety of topics. 

You can delve deeper into tech and business topics by chatting with Udacity’s model. It can smartly summarize concepts and pose deeper questions to motivate the learner further into a topic. Students can also use it to come up with unique and sophisticated results on their coding and writing projects. 

Once you complete a course, Udacity will give you a Nanodegree. Many of the Nanodegree holders become mentors for the platform. You can contact these mentors and get one-on-one feedback on problems the AI cannot help you with. 

Pros 

• Get the benefits of AI and human mentoring from the same platform
• Increase your demand in the freelance marketplaces with Udacity’s Nanodegrees
• Access a vibrant community of like-minded learners
• You can start without any payment since introductory courses are free

Cons

• Limited topics as the platform only focuses on trending business and tech subjects
• Doesn’t have much language variation

Price

• Courses: Free to $99/course 
• Nanodegrees: $1400-$3000 per month ( 6 to 2 years commitment depending on the degree) 
• Certificates: Free to $49, depending on the topic. 

4. Coursera 

Coursera is an online learning platform that hosts over 7,000 courses. These include courses on business, health, arts, tech, humanities, and many more. To help you navigate this vast ocean of knowledge, the platform offers you- Coursera Coach, a virtual coach who creates a personalized learning experience. 

The Coursera Coach is a generative AI. It draws from Coursera’s vast database of educational content and creates new material. It can analyze a student’s learning pattern and provide personal feedback and guidance. This AI coach can provide authentic answers to your questions and summarize topics. 

Being the AI coach of such a rich educational platform, Coursera Coach has access to thousands of video lessons. It can instantly present those videos from its vast library to help you understand a concept. 

Moreover, Coursera Coach can create quizzes and assessments tailored specifically to individual learners. It can generate questions depending on your level of mastery to keep you engaged in the course material. 

Pros 

• Learn about almost any topic you can think of
• Gain professional certificates after completing a course
• Complete degrees from accredited universities at considerably lower cost and less time
• Learn at your own pace and schedule 
• Get access to a large, supportive community

Cons

• A significant number of courses on this platform are not for total beginners. 
• Many courses lack the latest updates in their respective fields.

Price 

• Free courses 
• Guided courses $9.99/month (no certificate)
• Specialized courses $39.99/month (no certificate) 
• Certificate courses start at $39.99/month

5. Brainly

Brainly is a learning platform where students can ask questions regarding their homework and test preparations. The platform’s community of learners, educators, and experts would work together to find answers to those queries. As a result, Brainly boasts a base of 250 million moderated answers. 

The AI tutor at Brainly can instantly generate content from this huge database. Thus saving the learner from the exhaustion of endless browsing. At the same time, students can get the answers at their own learning pace. Brainly’s AI tutor can expand or simplify those answers depending on your level of mastery. 

Brainly also employs a digital mascot to guide students in their learning journey. This mascot, named Ginny, is a fun and cheerful character. She wears a purple dress and has blue eyes and pink hair. 

Ginny can interact with learners through texts, voice, movement, and facial expressions. The character’s adorable and cartoonish appeal takes interactive, personalized learning to a new level. 

Pros 

• Get the best of both worlds- human experts and AI tutor
• A digital mascot makes the platform more interactive than any other
• You can find answers to the most difficult questions on this platform since the database is huge 
• Compatible with a wide range of devices

Cons 

• It’s difficult to verify who’s a true expert on the platform
• It’s not the best platform for structured learning.

Price

• Premium plan- $9.99/month
• Pro plan- $19.99/month

What Are The Challenges Of Personalized AI Learning?

AI is one of the best things that has happened to personalized adult learning. How else would you be able to generate educational content specifically tailored to your preference? However, there are some drawbacks you should be careful about. 

Breach of Privacy 

Artificially Intelligent tutors have to collect a lot of private information in order to craft personalized AI content. As a result, the learning platform gets to know intricate details about a person’s behavior and preferences. 

Some platforms can sell this information to ill-intended third parties. These include hackers, advertisers, and sometimes government organizations. They can use this information to blackmail or surveil a student, gain unauthorized access to their personal account, or show manipulative ads. 

Therefore, always interact with AI on trusted platforms. You should also be careful while giving consent to what these platforms can do with your information. 

Accuracy of Content 

Most AI Tutors draw from an existing database of educational content to create new ones. Such a database comprises millions of answers, texts, and articles from various sources. Naturally, verifying all these sources and the information is impossible. 

Therefore, you can’t be a hundred percent sure that the educational content is truly accurate. This mostly happens when you are taking the help of generative AI. In contrast, structured and accredited courses (Coursera, Udacity) are more reliable.

Isolation And Lack of Practical Skills 

AI-dependent personalized training is making the idea of traditional classrooms obsolete. You no longer need a teacher or classmates and sit together in a hall to learn something. The interactive AI chatbot can be both your teacher and study partner. 

Now, this might be convenient for an adult taking a course during the hours after their day job. However, it also makes the learner socially isolated. 

Some researchers argue that AI-dependent learning can hinder a learner’s social and practical skills. A person can lose the sense of ownership of their learning. They might become too absorbed in the AI and never learn how to seek help from real people to solve problems. 

Final Words: Empowering Adult Learners with AI

AI-powered personalized learning has allowed anyone from any background to learn anything. All you need is curiosity and inquisitiveness. The adult learner doesn’t have to deal with the feeling of not being good enough or being too old for a course. 

However, don’t lose your agency in learning from too much AI dependence. Consider your AI tutor an incredibly helpful educational. But it can never replace the need for human interaction. So, join the communities on the learning platforms and try to make some good friends.

References:

• The impact of artificial intelligence on learner–instructor interaction in online learning (26 October 2021) by Kyoungwon Seo, Joice Tang, Ido Roll, Sidney Fels & Dongwook Yoon 
• A Systematic Review of Research on Personalized Learning: Personalized by Whom, to What, How, and for What Purpose(s)? (27 April 2021) By Matthew L. Bernacki, Meghan J. Greene & Nikki G. Lobczowski 
• Harnessing the Power of Artificial Intelligence for Personalized Learning in Education (July 2023) by Ronilo Berondo
• Artificial Intelligence and Its Influence in Adult Learning In China (2023) by Kang, Haijun