Physical classrooms form the bedrock of our society, but the advances of AI

mean that virtual teachers may one day be a feature of every households

mean that virtual teachers may one day be a feature of every households

Orcas Tutoring CEO Hossam Taher (LinkedIn) offered his thoughts on the relationship between AI and physical classrooms in BLJ Worldwide’s soon-to-be-released MENA Tech 2024: Mapping the Technology Landscape report, which we will be delving into once it’s released. Below is Taher’s contribution to the report:

Physical classrooms form the bedrock of our society, but the advances of AI mean that virtual teachers may one day be a feature of every households

As 2020 dawned and classrooms across the Middle East and North Africa began to shut their doors in response to Covid’s creeping scourge, parents and educational establishments across the region — and indeed the world — were all faced with the same unprecedented challenge: How do we ensure that our children’s education does not grind to a halt?

The answer, as we now know, lies in online and e-learning. In fact, the pandemic was the catalyst for an e-learning revolution — particularly in the Middle East — where parents were forced to cast aside any misconceptions about screen-based and home learning as it rapidly became the modus operandi for most schools and colleges.

As many of us will have experienced first hand, the pandemic caused extraordinary global disruption to schooling, affecting almost 1.6 bn students in more than 190 countries. Across MENA, it was responsible for the closure of learning facilities for almost 100 mn students aged between 5 and 17 years old.

It’s no surprise then, as e-learning passed the parent test, it also experienced a huge uptick in its fortunes: In 2022, two years into the pandemic, the online tutoring sector was valued at USD 7.7 bn — a figure which is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of almost 15% by 2030.

An e-learning revolution can only be built on strong digital foundations

There’s no doubt that this generation-defining shift to online learning is tech-driven, but it has also served to highlight just how much society relies on a robust and developed digital infrastructure.

Without easy access to affordable hardware, internet, wifi, 4 and 5G, students cannot take advantage of the myriad of options open to them. Governments are acknowledging that it is essential to provide the necessary technological foundations for Generation Z and Generation Alpha, who will all be educated, in some form and at some time, through a screen or device.

And while many will say that edtech is increasing access to education, this is not always the case as adoption rates across GCC countries — which are famed for their provision of cutting-edge connectivity — are far higher than in their North African counterparts. There’s still some way to go from providing equal access to education when it comes to lower income economies.

The transition from asynchronous to synchronous learning

Pre-pandemic online learning can be summarized as asynchronous — that is, self-based learning where individual students are watching videos, such as the ones you’ll see on platforms like YouTube. They certainly have a place, but there is no interaction and that’s where AI will be a future game changer. Videos will eventually become redundant and students will interact with their AI tutor through synchronous and live learning. We understand that not all children learn in the same way, which is why personalization is the future of this sector.

The role of AI

From my own experience as a founder of Orcas, which provides tailored e-learning and tutoring to students across Egypt, KSA, and the UAE, the shift in parental attitudes has been monumental — they now understand that this method of education is convenient and accessible and can offer tangible learning packages that offer clear engagement and measurable and trackable performance updates.

Quality of teaching is key, and for us a key metric of success is learning hours — an online platform might be great at attracting and acquiring users, but the real value happens on retention. We focus on hours spent learning and if students are increasing their hours and taking more subjects, we know they are actively engaged.

We provide a great user experience by utilizing the data we collect from different touch points between the student and the tutor to generate reports that are helpful for students and parents alike and that can also be used to adapt and evolve lessons to meet the individual needs of the pupil.

In the next two years, we plan to introduce more AI-powered experiences. There will be an intersection between 3D experiences, whether it’s virtual or augmented reality that is paired with AI, but we must be realistic that devices that support this technology are still expensive and not affordable for many households.

We do know that we want to focus more on the teacher, so when we look at AI, we’re examining ways in which we can help the teacher understand each student better. Whether that’s through the creation of more adaptive and personalized lesson plans or even ways to help them understand the student’s mental or psychological state during each lesson.

Our ultimate vision is 100% personalized teaching — one day you may even see an Orcas box sitting in your living room, and with one click, a bespoke virtual teacher or tutor will appear. Given the amount of data we collect from the teacher in their online sessions and the way we pair it with curriculum data, we know this could be a potential and natural next step.

Traditional schools and e-learning can be a powerful combination

As someone who is committed to the provision of personalized online learning, I think it’s important to recognize the unique and essential role that schools play in today’s society.

Quite simply — in a world where both parents often have jobs — a school’s physical presence allows mothers and fathers to work, pursue careers, and contribute to the economy around them. This is why they’ll always form the foundation of a successful civilization.

However, I also believe that personalized online and e-learning can support and complement a traditional education. If both sectors continue to work in partnership, putting the needs of pupils and students at the heart of everything they do, we can be confident of developing a robust educational model for generations to come.

Your top education story for the week: Filling the teacher gap: Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly and Education Minister Reda Hegazi discussed the progress of initiatives to help Egypt fill its teacher shortages by hiring 30k school teachers annually over a period of five years. (Cabinet statement)