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Prioritize AI Use Cases for Education

Address the potential of AI to transform education.

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  • Generative AI has increased the education sector’s interest, concerns, and expectations for artificial intelligence.
  • Adopting new technology requires a strategic approach and alignment between IT and the business.
  • AI tools are typically significant investments, causing this to be a challenge for smaller organizations with limited resources and requiring a comprehensive business case to be made.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

The approach to artificial intelligence should be strategic and responsible, with a clear understanding of the relevant use cases and benefits with a plan for addressing the challenges associated with implementation and ongoing use. Institutions of education that invest in AI will foster innovation to improve operational efficiency, student and faculty experiences, and data-driven decision making.

Impact and Result

  • Comprehend and discover the relevant use cases that can address organizational challenges.
  • Begin the AI journey by identifying and prioritizing use cases for their departmental units through the use case analysis tool.
  • Leverage the output to gain executive buy-in. Determine the most suitable problems with the greatest value to solve and meet institutional needs to implement AI responsibly.

Prioritize AI Use Cases for Education Research & Tools

1. Prioritize AI Use Cases for Education – A library of AI use cases and a guide for identifying and prioritizing use cases which best suit your institution.

This report presents the factors to consider when identifying how AI can be used in education.

It presents a framework including the technology involved, the benefits to the institution, the risks associated with the technology and the rate of adoption in education.

2. AI Use Case Workbook for Education – Use this tool to select and prioritize AI use cases for adoption in the institution.

This tool helps create a prioritized list of AI use cases for your institution of education

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Prioritize AI Use Cases for Education

Address the potential of AI to transform education.

Analyst Perspective

Address the potential of AI to transform education.

AI is rapidly entering the education space, and CIOs need to be prepared to take advantage of its potential benefits. An AI use case library for education is designed to support that need.

The strategic priority of AI determines the institution's approach. For example, institutions that are focused on institutional growth and sustainability may use AI to personalize learning, optimize course offerings, and identify high-potential students. Institutions that are focused on operational excellence may use AI to automate tasks, improve efficiency, and reduce costs. And institutions that are focused on instructional and research value may use AI to create personalized learning experiences, provide real-time feedback, and discover new knowledge.

The introduction of AI can be contentious, and the risks should be considered carefully. AI technology can have biases which directly thwart the mission of the institution. It is also a new technology, and its promise still outweighs its results.

Finally, many IT shops need to develop capabilities to support AI and a clear strategy is necessary to plan for this development.

Mark Maby, Research Director for Education

Mark Maby
Research Director for Education
Info-Tech Research Group

Executive Summary

Your Challenge Common Obstacles Info-Tech’s Approach
  • Generative AI has increased the education sector’s interest, concerns, and expectations for artificial intelligence. They will turn to IT for guidance on how AI can serve the institution.
  • Adopting new technology requires a strategic approach and alignment between IT and the business.
  • AI are typically significant investments, causing a challenge for smaller organizations with limited resources requiring the creation of a comprehensive business case.
  • Institutions of education are concerned about the risks, compliance, regulations, and policies of AI and machine learning (ML).
  • There is a limited understanding of how AI can impact the institution and how to get started with prioritization.
  • Determining relevant use cases for the education sector can be difficult and time-consuming.
  • Comprehend and discover the relevant use cases in both higher education and K-12 that can address organizational challenges.
  • Begin the AI journey by identifying and prioritizing use cases for departmental units through the use case analysis tool.
  • Leverage the output to gain executive buy-in. Determine the most suitable problems with the greatest value to solve and meet institutional needs to implement AI responsibly.

Info-Tech Insight
The approach to artificial intelligence should be strategic and responsible, with a clear understanding of the relevant use cases and benefits including a plan for addressing the challenges associated with implementation and ongoing use. Institutions of education that invest in AI will foster innovation to improve operational efficiency, student and faculty experiences, and data-driven decision making.

AI is rapidly entering the education space

Chart showing reasons for AI adoption in Education

Top 3 Barriers to AI Adoption
Lack of talent with AI skills 53%
Under-resourcing for Al 50%
Lack of clear strategy 47%
(HolonIQ)

340
Number of AI-powered startups currently in the US.
(Tracxn)

38%
Percentage of students aged 12-18 who admit to using ChatGPT for an assignment without their teacher’s knowledge.
(Common Sense Media)

2.2-4.0% Impact on Revenue
McKinsey & Company estimate that generative AI will have a substantial impact on revenue in education.
Marketing, sales, and operations will be the functions most impacted.
(McKinsey Global Institute)

7 New National AI Research Institutes
The National Science Foundation in the US invested $140 million in research on AI.
Two of the seven focus on researching AI implication for education.
(NSF News)

Virtual agent reduces workload and improves remote support

Rapid response virtual agent provides 24/7 support for students and parents.

INDUSTRY
K-12 Education

SOURCE
Quantiphi, 2023

Challenge
  • Due to the pandemic, the Upper Grand District School Board was inundated with an unprecedented number of inquiries for reliable information pertaining to online safety and technical support.
  • The school board was struggling to keep up with the demand, and the workload was putting a strain on administrative staff.
Solution
  • The board contracted Quantiphi to develop a rapid response virtual agent to provide quality, round-the-clock support.
  • The bot was integrated with the school board's existing website and a content management system, Google Sheets, for easy update and modification of intent responses.
  • The agent handles 1,000 queries per day and is trained to handle 20 distinct FAQs.
Results
  • The virtual agent has reduced the workload of administrative staff by 50%.
  • The agent has handled over 3,000 queries in the first week of implementation.
  • The agent has a 92% accuracy rate in resolving queries.

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Author

Mark Maby

Contributors

  • Pete Edwards, Enterprise Architect, Digital & Data at University of Melbourne
  • Allister Payne, Innovation Lead at University of Melbourne
  • Taylor Cyr, Director Public Sector/Higher Education at Quantiphi
  • Nicholas Burrell, Vice President, School Partnerships at Ocelot
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