How do education consultants leverage AI for their business? How do schools do so and is there any comparison possible or worthwhile?

These questions from Isar Meitis, CEO of multiple successful businesses, including Multiplai via The AI Report, need answering when applying AI to our business work, but also for those in the business of supporting or selling services to schools. All must ask, “How do they apply to schools?”

The Goal

His (Isar’s) goal is to to win quickly with AI. To win, you use AI to make money. I wonder if this even works in education:

“…you can win very, very quickly with AI. I tell people to prioritize tasks based on three things”

The Questions

Let’s review Isar’s questions:

• “One, what supports the top line, ie. what generates more sales?
• Two, what supports the bottom line, ie. what saves us time and money?
• And three, what do your employees hate doing?”

What does this look like in a school setting, which is what some are trying to bring AI into?

Adapting for Schools

If one revises these questions for school, they might look like this:

• What AI applications directly enhance student learning and engagement?
• Which AI-driven efficiencies can help reduce administrative burdens and save time for educators?
• What are the most repetitive or time-consuming tasks that teachers and staff dislike, and how can AI alleviate them?

To the latter two questions, there are a lot of possible responses.

Some would argue you don’t need AI for those but free labor focused on hard, menial work is always in demand. Could AI offset the need for that in schools and business?

It’s the first question that most interests me. If we focus on the latter half of each question, we get blog entries and conversations. If we focus on developing the first half (e.g. AI applications that solve efficiencies and alleviate tasks), we get products to sell.

But K-16 educators aren’t selling a product. You can’t simply apply AI to student learning and engagement like a hammer to a nail.

Instead, you have to be more deliberate and align the AI usage at the appropriate moment with students engaged in self-regulated learning that have agency over it’s use.

If you ask AI what the answer to Q1 is, the answers it gives are lacking, right?

They always seem focused on personalized learning, simulations, and anytime support:

AI can personalize learning by adjusting content to students’ skill levels and learning paces. Tools like adaptive learning platforms, AI tutors, and automated feedback systems can improve student outcomes.

AI-powered writing assistants can help students develop their writing skills, while AI-driven science simulations can bring abstract concepts to life.

AI chatbots and virtual assistants can provide 24/7 support for students, answering common questions about coursework, schedules, and school policies.

These AI enhanced functions don’t really get at the heart of teaching and learning. AI is easily relegated as another technology at the outskirts.

Q2: AI Driven Efficiency

The answers AI gives here probably work in a similar way to business clerical work, no?

AI can automate grading for multiple-choice tests, provide instant feedback on writing assignments, and even analyze student performance trends for data-driven instruction.

Chatbots can assist with routine administrative queries, such as schedule changes or policy clarifications, reducing the workload on front office staff.

AI can help optimize school operations, from managing bus routes to streamlining substitute teacher assignments.

These are all worthwhile uses of AI, if you believe AI should even be allowed due to ethical principles. But humans often use less than ethical solutions to achieve their ends, even in schools.

That objection aside (and we sweep a lot away with that), AI is useful in all these tasks schools contend with.

So, what about Q3, “What are the most repetitive or time-consuming tasks that teachers and staff dislike, and how can AI alleviate them?”

Q3: AI Alleviated Tasks

AI’s response here isn’t that much different than Q2, just different work:

AI can handle attendance tracking and generate reports automatically.

Automated lesson planning tools can generate resource recommendations and structured plans based on learning objectives.

AI can help with IEP documentation and reporting, which is a time-intensive process for special education staff.

The problem is, AI’s suggestions to Q3 are baloney. Would you entrust AI with IEP work or taking attendance (well, some might but surveillance is an issue)?

The execution of AI in these areas just isn’t there yet, but no doubt, there is a business working on that angle.

Also, automated lesson planning isn’t there either. A knowledgeable teacher who knows her students, has a gestalt sense of what learning entails is the better choice than AI. While AI can make a portion of the work easier, it remains an assistant.

But then, I could be wrong.