AlaulAlam :
In the era of the fourth industrial revolution technology is replacing the traditional teaching and learning practices rapidly with an aim to transform education with desired outcomes.
The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has opened up potential opportunities and advantages in accelerating innovations in the field of education.
AI has emerged as a powerful tool offering innovative solutions enhancing the education paradigm.
It is worth noticing that the use of AI in data processing, pattern recognition and predictive analytics is enhancing the arena of teaching and learning significantly.
Studies have revealed that AI facilitates students and teachers in many folds playing a pivotal role in attaining personalized approach and ensuring outcome customization, which seem unattainable with traditional educational methods.
It provides scopes for students and teachers in sharing interactive experiences pivotal to attain necessary skills and knowledge.
It is evident that in the era of competition, global education is witnessing significant changes to meet the challenges looming with the advent of technological revolutions.
Outcome-based education is considered a progressive and effective framework focusing on the tangible results of education.
The global education sector is giving much priority on the implementation of outcome-based education.
With the rapid evolving of the world, we see the changes in educational system and practices. This paradigm is not all about time spending in classrooms and completing the assigned responsibilities students and teachers usually have
. It focuses on specialized learning and practical competence not only in achieving outcomes but also in fostering collaboration, accountability, and holistic development.
It promises to bring the innovations in curriculum, pedagogy, evaluation and assessment practices emphasizing maximum learning and pragmatic knowledge, discouraging the concept of merely obtaining grades with no focus on skills development.
However, the question may be pertinent to raise; to cope with the global standard how far our education is prepared and how far it has experienced inclusive learning outcomes over the years emphasizing paradigm shifts in curriculum, pedagogy and evaluation?
How far do we claim that our education is empowered when we see that our universities are busy with awarding degrees to the students? In most cases, they have a little concern over ensuring the quality education for the students to make them efficient graduates.
Things get more frustrating when we see that the unemployment rate among the educated youths have risen sharply over the last two decades although education promises better opportunities and livelihoods.
However, it is good to see that to comply with the global education trend over the last some years the Ministry of Education and University Grants Commission of Bangladesh (UGC) have been emphasizing outcome-based education at the tertiary context of Bangladesh.
Curriculum and pedagogical practices at tertiary level have been restructured following the alignments of outcome-based education.
Obviously, introducing outcome-based education at the tertiary education level is a significant step towards equipping the graduates with pragmatic knowledge and lifelong skills.
The integration of outcome-based education into higher education in Bangladesh has been aligned with the national education policy -2010 recognizing the importance of producing graduates to meet the demands of a dynamic job market and contribute to national development.
Most universities in the country have emphasized outcome-based education and are incorporating it into their programs and curricula with a clear definition of learning outcomes, student centered approaches focusing on aligning with real world needs.
As a university teacher, I think that learning outcomes of a program can never be solely dependent on renewing curriculum and pedagogical practices.
Rather, it may affect significantly if teachers lack competence and readiness to adjust to the situation.
It is obvious that the role of a teacher is not confined to facilitate learning, rather, he/she should be responsible for training students, increasing their employability skills, growing digital transformation and fostering critical thinking.
With considering this, AI contributes effectively to deliver education through dynamic feedback.It benefits teachers and students with the potential to personalize learning experiences.
AI helps teachers to identify trends and patterns in student performance which can offer insight how curriculum can be adjusted to ensure maximum learning outcomes through analyzing assessment results.
On top of that, the use of AI can reduce teachers’ workload and they have a scope to spend less time on planning and more time on working with individual students.
However, studies conducted around the globe have revealed some challenges of the use of AI in education. Limited ease of accessibility, inadequate preparedness of teachers, ethical issues, inability of students to explore their full potential, high cost of implementation and technology addiction may be some of the challenges prevailing in the implementation of AI in education.
Again, in developing and poor countries the use of AI has widened the digital divide as all students do not have the scope to access to technology or internet resulting in bringing digital disparity and eroding educational outcomes.
In one of my studies conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic it was found that the introduction of technology-driven education experienced a significant digital divide.
Findings of the study also showed that virtual education exposed a great blow to the poor and marginalized children who hardly had scopes to attend remote class due to many unavoidable reasons.
However, AI tools should be accessible to all students to match the gap exacerbating due to the digital divide.
However, to ensure maximum outcomes in education using AI continuous monitoring along with a strong commitment to enhance education is a must. Besides, incorporating AI in designing curriculum and student-centered pedagogies requires careful planning and consideration.
Last of all, the priority should be given to make a balance between technology and human interactions that will unlock the potential of AI, empower education, and help our universities produce quality graduates required highly in the competitive global market and smoothly build up a knowledge economy contributing to inclusive development of the country.
(The author teaches at Prime University. He is also a Research Scholar at the IBS, Email: [email protected])