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AI Enhanced, Personalized Education -> 75% Drop in Structured Classroom Time
472 sats \ 2 comments \ @cascdr 18 Aug podcasts
I caught @k00b and @Car talking about @SimpleStacker's post over on SNL about AI in education. It made me think of this Modern Wisdom episode on a completely new education paradigm using AI:
Mackenzie's company Alpha School created a new model for education - they use AI proactively to give highly individualized teaching for kids. It flexes to their interests. And according to them their test performance is quite high despite only spending 2 hours in explicit class time. That leaves room for more unstructured activities that teach kids collaboration + life skills.
Personally, I think it's a positive development that we are moving away from the quasi-fascistic model of schooling with one person dictating to everyone the truth. This new model seems more aligned with modern challenges and with values of freedom. As someone that never plans on sending kids to public school, I'm excited to see alternative ideas really proliferate.
Full pod: https://podcastindex.org/podcast/229239?episode=41284575583
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21 sats \ 1 reply \ @SimpleStacker 18 Aug
I'm always a bit suspicious of success claims coming from the companies themselves. Even if it's true, it may be on a highly selected group of kids that this approach would work especially well for.
I'm also suspicious about any companies claiming to leverage AI these days, since it's a buzz word for attracting capital.
That being said, I'm positive on any attempt to rethink the education system. Especially in ways that move towards more personalized education. I think deep personal interaction is one of the only ways to ensure real learning, especially in the age of AI when learning assessment is soooo difficult to do at scale.
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30 sats \ 0 replies \ @cascdr OP 18 Aug
Agree...there's just so many ways to game this. Time will tell. The biggest thing that assuaged my skepticism was the fact that they're not just making apps they're doing a whole immersive school which imo makes it more likely they don't leave massive gaps. They spend like 2 hours with AI trying to get max personalized curricula then they hang out with teachers + students doing physical activity, learning life skills and doing entrepreneurial skills. Broadly, that sounds like more of a 21st century success primer than the Kafkaesque system we have now.
Jury is still out on Alpha School but it is encouraging to see alternatives to the current clown world system. It's also cool that she's a local entrepreneur like most of us at @PlebLab. I wonder if we will cross paths with her.
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