The use of AI tools is growing among both students and teachers. In fact, Forbes surveyed that 60% of educators use AI in classrooms. They also found that younger teachers (under 26 years old) are likelier to adopt AI tools.

In this article you will learn how AI is reshaping exam scalability and improving learning efficiency. From automated grading to customized lessons, AI tools are revolutionizing the education sector and enhancing student outcomes.

Once a technology buzzwords, AI and Machine Learning (ML) are now become more than that. AI tools are used in many forms in the education sector, from automating administrative tasks to improving learning and customizing lessons.

Can AI speed up the examination procedures? Can AI tools really optimize the grading process and improve accuracy? Well, yes.

Read on and see different ways these tools can reorganize exam stability and make it easy to evaluate students.

1. Mark and Grade Exams

The population is increasing, and so are the students. Curricula are being updated every year, and so is the pedagogy. But what about the assessment procedures to evaluate students’ exams? Are they evolving, too?

The answer is yes. But the exciting part is AI is driving the change this time. AI exam assessment technologies are continuously improving and integrating into the education segment to speed up the grading and marking processes.

Real-Life Examples

2. Reduce Assessing and Grading Time

Gone are the days when colleges and universities needed a lot of skilled assessors and examiners to grade the exams of many students.

Like the examples above, many AI-based tools can assess a wide range of assessments. While some are good at grading open-ended questions, some are more accurate in assessing multiple-choice questions.

Ultimately, a single AI tool can do the work of tens of human assessors in a particular domain, saving both time and money. These tools can also help conduct more exams instead of one or two from multiple locations.

With these, the teachers can focus on more productive tasks, such as planning lessons, delivering lessons to the students, preparing tests and exams, etc.

3. Minimize Cheating in Exams

AI tools can be powerful weapons in dealing with cheating cases in exams, primarily if conducted online. They can be used in various forms to either stop students from impersonating or catch them red-handed.

Here are the ways how AI can keep academic integrity alive:

Proctoring and Surveillance

AI-based proctoring systems and webcams can be used to identify and monitor students present in the exam hall. They are trained to catch any suspicious activity, such as unusual movement, looking away from the screen, or an unidentified person.

Behavioral Analysis

AI tools can recognize unusual voices in the background that may suggest collaboration. They can also analyse typing patterns, mouse movements, and other behaviors to detect anomalies indicating cheating.

For example, if a student suddenly changes the typing speed or style, AI tools can detect it. It notifies someone else is typing the answer rather than the student.

Plagiarism Detection

If a student submits an exam, AI tools can compare it with the submissions by other students, websites, and academic papers. These advanced AI plagiarism checker tools can detect any copied content.

Real Life Examples of Plagiarism Detection Tools

1. Grammarly
2. Prepostseo Plagiarism Checker
3. Quetext Plagiarism Checker

Designing Exams

Have you created an exam paper with a unique set of questions? Provide AI with these questions, and it will randomly and separately randomize the questions for all the students. It makes it difficult for the students to share answers to random questions.

Real Life Examples of AI Tools to Structure Exams

1. Quillbot
2. OpExams
3. OpenAi ChatGPT
4. Quiz Wizard

4. Better Assess Student’s Capabilities

AI tools can also be used for ‘adaptive testing’ to better assess students’ true capabilities. In adaptive testing, AI tools collect real-time data from students performing an assessment and adjust the next question according to the performance.

The exam starts with a question of medium difficulty. If the student answers it correctly, the next question will be more challenging, and vice versa. This adjustment continues with each subsequent question, creating a unique pathway for each student.

Adaptive testing is famous because it can help better assess students’ abilities than traditional tests. The questions are more specific to the student and are arranged to provide a customized assessment experience for each student.

Once the assessment result is produced, the professor can determine where students lag in their studies and decide on alternative teaching methods and programs for each student, which helps them improve their overall performance.

Real-Life Examples of AI Tools for Adaptive Testing

1. Smart Sparrow
2. ALEKs
3. Knewton
4. Formative
5. DreamBox Learning
6. Thinkster Math
7. Claned
8. Gradescope

5. Smart Tutoring

Smart tutoring is based on advanced artificial intelligence (AI). It is advancing the way students learn. These intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) analyse each student, their performance, and their behaviour to find their strengths and weaknesses.

Once they have completed this stage, they suggest different improvement programs, learning materials, practice problems, and explanations to overcome the weaknesses.

In addition, these systems also adjust the learning paths accordingly. If a student is struggling with a concept, they receive extra practice and scaffolding. The ones who grasp it quickly move on to more challenging topics.

Interestingly, some ITS tools also include simulations, multimedia elements, and creative games to make learning more engaging for the students.

Real-Life Examples of Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS)

ALEKS—A popular tool used in the USA for science, math, and business education.

CIRCSlM-Tutor—Used with first-year medical students at the Illinois Institute of Technology

Squirrel AI—A widely-used tutoring system in China that is used in over 2,000 learning centers to curate lessons for each student

Another way AI tools can help you learn things smartly is by acting as AI assistants when you are researching, preparing for an exam, or doing your assignments. Students can ask these tools any question to get a detailed answer. No need to flip book pages to find your answer.

Take the Editpad Answer generator as an example. You can ask the tool any question to get a comprehensive yet concise answer. Simply type in your question in the input box, select Tone, and click Generate Answer. The answer appears in 1 to 2 seconds.

Other Ways AI Can Improve Learning Efficiency

Planning Course and Curricula

AI technologies not only speed up the process of grading exams but also help teachers plan courses and curricula. When faculty use AI for course planning, they free up a lot of time to support students and do other productive tasks.

Take ChatGPT as an example. If a teacher has to plan a course to teach in the next semester, they can get help from ChatGPT. They can ask the tool to develop and generate the following:

ChatGPT can also be used to find course-relevant data, papers, reports, and media to share with students and help them learn quickly.

TIP: Make sure to use the latest yet most advanced versions of the AI tools, such as Gemini Advanced, ChatGPT GPT-4, etc., that have access to the latest data. And double-check their outputs, as they are still learning.

Smart Content Creation

AI is now capable of creating content, whether in the form of text, graphics, images, or even videos. Yes, you heard right. The content generated by AI can then be used to teach students seamlessly and boost their learning capabilities.

2D/3D Visuals

Students have been learning from books while looking at diagrams from book pages. However, with the integration of AI, teachers can now generate 2D and 3D images of the objects they are teaching to the students.

For example, if students are learning about “how the kidney works,” instead of seeing an image from a book, generate a 3D image with tools like Masterpiece Studio, 3DFY AI, Luma AI, etc., and show it on the multimedia screen. Many tools even let you create live videos.

Virtual Learning

Have you heard of Apple Vision Pro? It is a high-end mixed-reality headset. Whether Apple Vision Pro or another headset, they can be used in the education sector. AI is used in these to enhance its AR and VR technologies.

Teachers and students can use these technologies to speed up their learning process. For example, if a teacher is discussing a historical topic such as ‘the pyramids of Egypt,’ these headsets can be used to visualize the pyramids. Moreover, these technologies can also be used to break down complex concepts in biology, physics, or engineering with 3D models and simulations. Students can virtually dissect a frog or see the inner workings of an engine.

Digitalizing Study Materials

While AI technologies can plan lessons for students, they can also be used to digitalize study materials. For example, if you have images of notes taken from fellow students, a student can use an image-to-text tool to get its digital version.

The tool’s advanced AI algorithms can extract handwritten text from images and convert it into editable form. Later, you can edit the key points or convert the text into document files to share with your friends or upload them to LMS portals.

Language Learning

Have you ever used a grammar-checking tool to check for any errors in your writing? Or a plagiarism checker tool to stick to academic integrity? If so, you are already well aware of the use of AI in smart language learning.

You can use many AI tools to improve your writing and learn language. For example, Grammarly can be used to catch errors, and Hemingway Editor can be used to resolve readability issues. Find out where you lag and use these tools to learn ways to improve your writing.

Conclusion

AI can automate many tasks and greatly improve exam scalability and learning efficiency. First, AI tools can mark and grade exams quickly.

They can handle multiple-choice, open-ended questions, and essays. This reduces the need for many human graders and speeds up the grading process.

AI can also be used to monitor exams through cameras to detect unusual behavior and prevent cheating. Adaptive testing is another benefit, where AI adjusts questions based on a student’s performance to provide a more personalized assessment.

Intelligent tutoring systems use AI to analyze students’ strengths and weaknesses. And offer tailored learning materials and practice.

AI also helps teachers plan courses, create engaging content, digitize study materials, and make learning more interactive and efficient.