Automation in Education: The Fuel of Efficiency is here!

According to HP Megatrends, AI is still in its early stages in education, but it is becoming more prominent and fundamental to learning every year. Modern technologies are actively going to change the way automation in education occurs. Automated duties can let educators spend more time teaching pupils. Automation can help students maximize their time and attention on achieving their academic goals.

Introduction

The markets for artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic process automation (RPA) in the education sector in the United States are estimated to reach over $85 million by 2022. According to current industry data, some of the greatest brands in technology are constantly inventing innovative education solutions. According to Formstack research, 63 percent of institutions globally use automation technologies somehow.

Nonetheless, the fundamental role of automation in education and students’ daily lives leaves much to be desired. Students, surrounded by technology, primarily utilize it for communication and enjoyment. At the same time, the education system itself is resolutely resistant to change. Most schools still use a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching. It is the same old classroom, with a single instructor instructing a class of around 30 children.

This raises the question of:

1. How will a generation of digital native pupils react to the growth and dissemination of these tools?
2. How can students utilize automation to maximize their time focusing on academic success?

A theoretical introduction to automation in education

Let us understand the definition of some basic concepts related to automation in education.

1. Automation: To put it simply, automation is the act of automating repetitive and monotonous duties via technology, which allows the institutions to reduce manual effort in repetitive admin tasks and free up more time for effective teaching and learning.
2. Robotic Process Automation:

• Robotic Process Automation does not necessarily mean that androids replace teachers in the classroom. Automation complements the teaching process.
• In a nutshell, RPA is yet another method for creating an efficient working process by utilizing algorithms and software robots (bots) capable of doing tasks without human interaction.
• Robotic Process Automation has many benefits-
  1. Improved Customer Experience
  2. Better Management Capabilities
  3. No Coding Required for Implementation
  4. Cost Savings
  5. Increased Compliance
• With RPA, many dimensions in the education industry can be automated-
  1. Course Registration, Shortlisting, and Enrollment Process
  2. Attendance Management
  3. IT Operations
  4. Schedule meetings, timetable updates, equipment reservations, and updates scheduling
  5. Human Resources, Administration, and Finance
  6. Chatbot

1. Algorithms: A step-by-step guideline defining a series of steps necessary to complete a job or process is an algorithm.

Why is educating educators and disrupting the old system inevitable?

• The lack of understanding and experience on how RPA works is the primary reason that automation in the education business lags behind automation in the other industries.
• That is why it is critical to give comprehensive RPA training to teachers and administrators.
• The rising need to use RPA and AI to adapt to the rapidly changing workplaces might be the catalyst for change in education.
• Choosing to ignore these innovations is no longer an option since educational institutions that do not integrate RPA and AI would most certainly become outdated in a short period.

Benefits of automation in education

1. Minimize manual tasks

• Colleges and universities, like businesses, are under enormous pressure to boost efficiency and decrease expenses.
• They must, however, give pupils a high-quality experience. Institutions may alleviate some of the challenges they encounter by leveraging technology.
• According to Formstack research, 63 percent of institutions globally use automation technologies somehow. The majority of educational institutions today use technology to drive their operations and data analysis to inform their decision-making.
• Even though innovation is occurring as quickly as possible in the public sector, many departments are still investing most of their time grappling with repetitive and tedious duties.
• Consider some of the time-consuming activities associated with enrolling, hiring professors, maintaining seamless financial operations, monitoring students’ well-being, marking, and much more.
• Institutions may handle these monotonous but critical duties using artificial intelligence (AI), chatbots, and intelligent platforms to enhance the work of institution staff and students by providing them with the resources they need to be efficient, adaptable, interactive, and intelligent. Finally, this enhances every level of the educational process.
• These changes to their systems will be the catalyst for the necessary shift in education. It will also enhance task efficiency and accuracy, making employees more productive while lowering their workload.
• Administrative chores will be completed more quickly, and with fewer errors, reliable data will be shared more quickly, and professors will spend more time helping students rather than filling out paperwork.

2. Move away from outdated processes

• The majority of students enrolling in institutions and colleges nowadays have grown up with technology. It is not easy to imagine a future without computers, cellphones, and WiFi.
• They would prefer to find information online via their smartphones than any other method.
• University must be entirely prepared to welcome pupils with this level of technological knowledge. As previously said, most colleges continue to rely on manual methods, which frustrates tech-savvy students.
• Even though most professors, teachers, and students have been fast to accept technology methods such as digital essays and online student forums, there is still a long way.
• Maintaining outmoded systems can impact the institution’s stability, revenue, and, most importantly, students’ experience and faith in them.
• Automation for academic institutions may appear to be expensive, but it is worthwhile in more ways than one.
• It may be as easy as streamlining the reporting process or ensuring potential students receive follow-up emails; these are minor changes that can significantly impact their happiness.
• Technology deployment has a broader impact that reduces costs, removes repetitive work, and adds value to students and employees.

3. More adaptive learning platforms

• When combined with instruction, automation may create a completely personalized learning experience.
• Intelligent applications can automatically alter curriculum and teaching techniques to meet students’ learning styles and detect knowledge gaps by monitoring their progress.
• While this technology is used at all levels of education, it is rapidly being incorporated into the learning management systems that many universities rely on, mainly when face-to-face learning is not possible.
• Students may now take courses online while receiving individualized academic help that was previously only offered in instructor-led settings.
• Adaptive learning is a valuable tool and a game-changer in education since it gives access to enormous amounts of data.
• Contrary to popular belief, adaptive learning will not obviate the need for teachers.
• It allows them to devote themselves to a more student-centered approach to learning, ensuring that those who require extra assistance receive it. Students are unquestionably the primary benefactors of industry-disrupting technology.

4. Accessible help for students

• Several academic institutions are transitioning to a more automatic and active method for identifying and selecting students who need assistance.
• This can result in a much more inclusive education system and the implementation of preventative measures.
• Student portals containing assignment dates, schedules, course material, pre-recorded lectures, and much more may effectively employ automation to provide students with what they want – all without the need for the lecturer. Moreover, this is only the start.
• There is a need for innovation and collaboration across all areas in institutions.
• However, with the Office for Students’ (OfS) most recent annual evaluation noting mental health, hate crime, and sexual harassment as some of the most severe issues, student services should examine their procedures.
• This is where internet platforms shine. Students cannot always wait for student services to open, and they may want instant assistance – automation can help empower them.
• It is not a substitute for assistance, but it is the first step in ensuring that a student can report, complain, or seek aid effectively.
• More consolidated information support systems will shed light on systemic challenges that disadvantage kids.

Processes that can be automated in the education system

1. Course Registration and Student Onboarding: Electronic admissions applications assist everyone, whether a preschool or a graduate school. Admission officers do not have to worry about missing pages or coffee stains, and applications may be sent immediately to the appropriate individual. They may even set up automated email or text notifications for essential staff to be sent whenever a new application is received. Furthermore, mistakes are less frequent with online course registration, and teachers receive their student enrollment lists more quickly.
2. Student Shortlisting: Students are frequently picked based on their aptitude scores in their entrance/administration tests in many elite universities. Students who submitted and performed well depending on their criteria may be admitted. Such universities may use automation to shortlist pupils based on areas and markers such as EQ, IQ, and many more. Because of the automatic results, it is easy to shortlist using a dashboard and lists that mark all of the facts.
3. Student Grading and Assessment: Teachers evaluate their students’ assignments, quizzes, examinations, papers, and projects. Some of them will have support aides, but the majority do not. In schools, automation can evaluate small items such as academic tasks, quizzes, and examinations sections. Teachers will be able to spend more time outside of the classroom evaluating papers and projects and fewer hours after school on tests and assignments. This procedure would allow students to obtain feedback and evaluation more quickly.
4. Attendance Tracking: Digital attendance records may be instantly stamped with the date and time, and teachers can click “present” or “absent” for each student and quickly transmit a report to the office.
5. Backoffice Processes: Human Resources, Administration, Accounts, Marketing, and other support services may also automate their manual procedures, reduce the usage of physical paper forms, and increase the effectiveness, agility, and transparency of their operations. School reports, certificates, pay stubs, and other reports may be created automatically utilizing data gathered in the system, removing the chance of manual mistakes. Statistics on the amount of time exceptional education instructors spend processing paperwork are telling; according to a Council for Exceptional Children study, routine chores and paperwork significantly interfere with their profession according to 53% of exceptional education instructors.
6. Scheduling the Classes: Administrators and instructors schedule classes and events both before and during the school year. It can be time-consuming, mainly if every kid and their parents are accommodated. This activity may also be automated, freeing administrators and instructors to concentrate on student interactions.
7. Audits and Compliance: A plethora of regulations must be followed by educational institutions. No-code may be used to automate audits and paperwork associated with these compliances. On-the-ground audits may be completed utilizing mobile phones in offline mode, with the option to take images, signatures, and other data and attach it to the audit.

Automation tools for the education sector

1. Learning Management System:

• Tutors go through countless hours of website and app hopping to make virtual learning enjoyable for pupils.
• Unfortunately, scattered sources frequently restrict productive sessions of instructors, which might have a long-term impact on school/university output.
• The ideal answer is education software solutions with all tools and materials inside one spot for instructors to drag, dump, and get ready for their next lesson.

2. Student Information System:

• Spreadsheets and student data are relics of a bygone era.
• Manual mistakes will be tolerated very little in EdTech 2021 and beyond.
• Furthermore, more data equals more digging, more profound in the sheets.
• As a result, the SIS software is rescuing the industry from spreadsheets. The automatic student information system balances information metrics and speeds up data retrieval.

3. Classroom Management System:

• Unpopular opinion: Regardless of how popular Zoom or Google Meet is for supporting online learning, they lack the fun factor.
• Digital education does not have to be monotonous and one-sided.
• Learning is a two-way street, and classroom management systems provide more opportunities for participatory learning. Simulations, real-time evaluations, live conversations, and quizzes help create a conducive learning environment, leading to improved remembering and retention rates.

4. Assessment Software:

• ****Even if third-party assessment applications and modules outperform pen-and-paper testing, they cannot replace the ease of integrated and holistic software.
• With a wide range of supported files and formats, evaluation tools can save time by making assessments enjoyable for teachers and students.

5. Whiteboard Software:

• A word that is read is a word that is remembered. A word that is heard is a word that is perceived. A written word is a word that is comprehended. Moreover, the result of all three is information retention.
• If there is one area wherein online learning falls short, it may be using a blackboard.
• However, current technology, such as whiteboard software, has this element addressed.
• The program includes a collaborative learning environment, screen projections, activity clocks, bilateral conversation, and other features.

6. Campus Management Software:

• Campus administration is one of the most humdrum duties in the educational arena.
• After all, good maintenance strategies are required for space and campus design.
• To remain relevant, campus management must build a digital architecture in addition to physical architecture.
• Even if we can stop COVID-19 and reopen schools and colleges, the future is the Internet of Things and automation.

7. Account Management Software:

• We have progressed from the era of cash to the era of bank transfers and internet payments. Accounting has become a little more straightforward for school-based tutoring institutions due to this.
• Account management software is the solution for handling multi-dimensional financial issues.
• This software should be prioritized for payroll and university spending to fees and bookkeeping.

Conclusion

Myth: Automation is costly.

Truth: Investment in automation is a long-term investment in profit.

• Automation in schools and universities may help institutions free up space, time, and resources while increasing efficiency. However, it does necessitate an investment.
• Going process by process is the most cost-effective method to approach automation. With learning management software, they can delight their teachers and students.
• Gradually transition to a student information system to improve information retrieval for parents, instructors, and students.
• Then, institutions can select a campus management system before proceeding to the following procedure for automation.
• Automation in schools and colleges should be kept to a minimum.
• Institutions should consider tutors, parents, and students’ digital literacy. Instilling confidence in their core users will be easier if they automate one task at a time.
• They should provide appropriate onboarding and training programs. Leading software development firms can offer after-sales support and documentation.
• The idea is to be incremental in their approach but not so gradual that they fall behind in their niche by automating the initial manual procedure.