Artificial intelligence is rapidly evolving, and new applications are expected to revolutionize work. Some jobs will disappear, and new ones will emerge, while productivity improves. How does this development change the teacher’s role?
However, a completely free market-driven restructuring of jobs will not occur. The EU’s AI Act defines the use of AI applications within the EU, and AI applications that facilitate work must be used within the framework of the regulation. The role of AI is to serve as an auxiliary tool, and the teacher’s role, especially in assessment and monitoring student progress, remains central. The focus shifts from repetitive checking to validating assessment proposals, ensuring that assessment remains the teacher’s responsibility. The efficiency and speed of AI increase the risk of misuse. Teachers must not succumb to ”easy solutions” and accept the tool’s proposals without consideration. AI must be approached realistically, understanding that it can misinterpret issues, and interpretations may be incorrect.
Students will also benefit from automated assessment and rapid feedback. One of the biggest challenges is receiving feedback and its timeliness during assignments. Feedback helps students confirm their competence and utilize it for exam revision, for example. Completing assignments and considering feedback not only improves routine but also promotes cognitive reflection, enhancing memory. Timely feedback streamlines learning, allowing more studies to be completed in the same timeframe or freeing up time for important hobbies. Feedback also supports work-related studies, potentially improving job market opportunities. AI is said to increase productivity.
AI Act and Regulation
There’s been much talk about excessive EU regulation. The most critical are ready to eliminate EU regulation as unnecessary. Opinions vary, but there are benefits when considering AI and its utilization. The guiding principle of the pending AI Act is to protect the individual being assessed. Legislation aims to protect the weaker party, which is also the perspective of the AI Act. When regulation and compliant services protect the assessed party, non-discrimination and equal treatment are ensured. The teacher ultimately remains responsible for the assessment, as before, with only the execution of the checking work being automated.
High-Risk, Yet Efficient AI
Why is assessment classified as a high-risk category? The rationale is that assessment decisions can impact an individual’s future choices, the availability of further education opportunities based on academic success, and potential recruitment possibilities.
Medical and healthcare-related aspects also fall under the AI Act, but they have been regulated previously, which does not significantly alter healthcare and related functions.
Assessment and Learning Guidance Require Compliance with the AI Act
The development of AI will introduce new services, i.e., tools, to the education market. The features of these services enhance efficiency and streamline time management. The EU’s AI Act came into effect in August 2024. The Act defines the use of AI in education-related assessment and content-related guidance.
Entry into Force and Potential Changes of the AI Act
In the initial phase, member states and the practical implementation of the Act are seeking interpretation. Each member state is considering how to proceed with minor nuances once the major guidelines are established. These minor nuances and their interpretation are essential for service providers to develop appropriate services. The education sector is still in its early stages; the transition period for the Act’s implementation is two years, and there are not yet many services that deeply utilize AI, nor is there widespread knowledge.
The Act aims to ensure transparency in assessment, equal treatment of individuals, and non-discrimination. What changes compared to before? Ultimately, not much changes, as the central role of humans remains in assessment and learning process guidance. AI-powered software serves as an auxiliary tool, and the final decision, for example, in assessment, rests with the teacher.
Traditional Effective Methods Persist; Pen and Notebook Remain Efficient Learning Tools
Despite rapid development, traditional learning methods remain effective. For example, taking notes with a pen in a notebook enhances learning. Especially when grasping new concepts, written note-taking is efficient. Pen and notebook remain excellent user interfaces and learning platforms.
Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ILS) Enhance Learning
Intelligent systems and their learning-enhancing features have been and continue to be studied. Research publications have shown that intelligent learning-enhancing applications have had a positive impact on learning. Intelligent tutoring systems enhance learning and include features that maintain learning intensity and focus, and provide automatic feedback on exercises, effectively sustaining attention on the learning subject.
However, digital solutions alone do not enhance learning for everyone. Students should test in upper secondary and high school which learning methods work most effectively. There are also differences between subjects. Research publications indicate less benefit from automated assessment and intelligent tutoring systems in mathematics learning.
Students aged 20–30 or older view new AI-based assessment positively. A study found that gender or IT orientation does not affect acceptance.
Market Situation and the State of Intelligent Tutoring Systems in the Market
The situation is constantly evolving, with new services entering the market at any moment. Currently, numerous AI-like services are on the market, which are purely software-based, i.e., do not contain AI algorithms. Software-based or AI-containing services can be classified as technology-based, i.e., they do not include educational materials or services containing educational materials. The boundary between educational material and software is changing. Educational material retains its place but gradually becomes more software-like.
Plagiarism detection technology has been on the market for some time. The system searches for similarities between the text being drafted and existing text. Some degree of similarity is acceptable, but excessive similarity is not. Text and answer creators can review their text’s relationship to existing text and avoid plagiarism accusations.
Various technologies that search for individual terms and words in answers, with checking features, have also been around for a long time. Such solutions are not necessarily AI. For example, checking the correct answer in mathematics is not AI if the answer must be given in a specific format.
Neural networks and machine learning designed for task completion enable students to receive new tasks based on prior knowledge, with appropriate difficulty progression. Various software for image and visual perception exists. Their value lies particularly in concreteness, which can enhance understanding of the subject. Augmented reality (AR) and three-dimensional structures, such as those implemented with hologram technology, enhance concreteness when visual perception is important.
All methods that involve students weighing and considering the subject, answer, or theory progression enhance learning and internalization, allowing it to be recalled, especially after light revision, for exams or tests.
Various digital assessment applications are based on quantitative comparisons, such as word searches or terminology reviews, and developed analysis and classification.
More advanced systems, such as Eximiatutor, search for appropriate sentence structures and their variations in answers. The application is understandable for teachers and aligns with the spirit of the AI Act, as the teacher creates the task or exam and defines the criteria, i.e., the correct aspects related to the question. Learning is also supported by a model answer or description of the correct aspects sought in the question, which students receive as immediate feedback on practice tasks or after teacher evaluation in exams, or immediately after submitting the test. Exam or assignment assessment and feedback are thus integrated into the learning process.
AI-Driven Checking and Immediate Feedback
Automated assessment of text answers (exams, tests, and essays) is possible with Eximiatutor’s AI assessment technology. The efficiency of automated AI-driven assessment lies primarily in its speed. Teachers can, for example, administer an exam and receive assessment proposals for answers afterward. Especially evaluating large groups in online and MOOC courses has proven laborious, but now the workload can be reduced.
The teacher’s role remains to review the AI-generated assessment proposals and potentially correct them. The assessment process can also consider spelling or other qualitative criteria.
Students benefit from efficient and rapid checking and, above all, timely and quick feedback. When doing exercises, students receive immediate feedback on their answers, allowing them to reflect on their responses and their shortcomings. If a part of their answer did not earn points, they can review the theory and challenge the assessment.
Teacher’s Role and Attitude Towards Using Assessment Tools
AI will enhance and accelerate repetitive routine tasks, such as checking and assessment. When using automated assessment tools, routine work shifts from checking and assessment to validating and, if necessary, modifying the AI-generated output (assessment proposal).
The effectiveness of assessment AI is based on the assessment proposal, which teachers use to determine if there are missing aspects in the answer that AI did not find. If an aspect is mentioned partially and AI found it or did not recognize it, the teacher faces a familiar assessment challenge: Is this description sufficient? Did the student understand the issue correctly? Can I give points for this?
When working with AI, maintaining appropriate critical thinking and alertness in approving assessments is crucial.
Automated Assessment and Its Future Impacts
If assessment work is perceived as burdensome and facilitating work is part of development everywhere, and reducing workload is a goal, the use of AI-based tools will increase, and routine assessment work will be automated. The teacher’s role, like in many other jobs, will shift to quality evaluation and, ultimately, to guiding the broader use of AI software, such as creating learning content, integrating various AI solutions, and developing advanced content.
The greatest efficiency of AI is in accelerating and scaling repetitive routine tasks. Once a functional and relevant task is created with AI, its lifecycle can span decades. The task may need periodic content updates, but in practice, one-time work enhances the teacher’s work for decades. The task scales for use in various contexts and even different languages. By maintaining a question or exam bank, teachers can increase teaching effectiveness or gain additional time for other