Leading Artificial Intelligence with AI-TEd

Countries competing for leadership in Artificial Intelligence (AI) must focus on three simple but fundamental matters: it must groom AI-savvy students, AI-skilled workforce and AI-literate populace. In other words, such countries must consciously program into the entire citizenry, a tech-yearning culture to raise its overall sociotechnical quotient. By sociotechnical quotient I mean the degree to which individuals, groups and social relations anticipate, embrace and promote technology in a given society. One surefire means of achieving the three prongs, starting with the first, is the country-wide integration of AI into teacher education programs, tagged AI-TEd. Through AI-TEd, nations can transform teacher preparation to build the vital skills needed to oil further technological advancement in AI.

An impactful AI-Ted program must include three key wireframes – technology, pedagogy and content, in line with Mishra and Koehler’s (2006) technology integration model. In AI-TEd, technology must include tools such as ChatGPT, intelligent tutoring systems (ITS), automated grading and assessment, among others. The relevant pedagogies for AI-TEd should include project-based learning, flipped instruction, competency-based method and peer collaboration. These must be taught as teaching styles and then practically deployed in actual teaching. Content should cover learning experiences like AI in education, AI-powered teaching tools, personalised learning and the AI classroom, learning analytics, ethics of AI in education and emerging AI technologies. These are mapped in Fig 1 above.

The benefits of AI-Ted are manifold. Firstly, it promotes personalized learning experiences. AI-trained teachers can analyse students’ learning styles and adapt their teaching strategies accordingly, especially in classrooms where students have diverse backgrounds, needs and abilities. With AI analytics, educators get useful and timely feedback on their teaching methods, helping them improve based on real data instead of just personal hunch. Secondly, AI tools can assist in administrative tasks, allowing teachers to focus more on instruction and less on paperwork. For instance, AI can automate grading, track student progress, and even suggest resources tailored to specific student challenges, thus significantly reducing workload. I recall my days as a university teacher, when I had to grade close to 1,000 student’s papers within two weeks! Thirdly, AI helps to create a mindset of ongoing growth for teachers and AI-Ted gives them the technical competencies to lead the classroom with confidence.

Across the world, countries are increasingly integrating AI into teacher training programs. In the U.S., universities like Stanford and MIT use AI platforms to provide real-time feedback for future teachers. Canada’s University of Alberta has an “AI in Education” initiative that helps pre-service teachers design tech-savvy lesson plans. The University of Edinburgh in the UK partners with AI researchers to create training modules on AI ethics and applications, while Australia’s Queensland University of Technology uses AI simulations to prepare teachers for diverse classroom scenarios. In China, Tsinghua University employs AI for practical teaching simulations, and Xueda Education offers personalized professional development using AI tools. Low and medium income countries must therefore take a cue and initiate an even more ambitious AI-Ted program, given their peculiar limitations.

The implementation of AI in teacher education curricula conclusively paves the way for a new generation of educators who are equipped to thrive in a new, technology-driven social milieu. AI-Ted will help teachers to harness AI’s capabilities and will be able to conduct more engaging, personalized, and effective teaching. As global examples continue to show, it is clear that AI will play an important role in shaping the future of education and science, and will in turn be improved largely by the degree and quality of AI-TEd. Low and middle income countries in the Global South need to get even more aggressive in their AI-Ted offering to bridge in advance the second digital divide.