AI tailors teaching plans for China's school students

BEIJING - Students at a high school in East China's Anhui province are having all their math tests marked by a computer, which will also analyze the results for teachers.

It's an example of how artificial intelligence (AI) is helping students study better and teachers teach more efficiently, said Zhou Minmin, a math teacher at Hefei No. 6 High School.

AI can automatically give a student new exercises based on their performance in exams and assignments, and it's now in use in more than 10,000 Chinese schools.

"AI allows the students to learn in a more personalized way," agreed Cai Jia'ao, a math teacher at Baoying High School, east China's Jiangsu Province. "It also helps teachers to reduce preparation work for lessons and frees them from tedious statistical work."

The targeted teaching program is based on big data, developed by Chinese AI firm iFlytek Co., and reduces the burden on teachers, Wang Zhuo, vice president of the company, said recently at a summit on AI opportunities in education.

The First National Middle School of Ruili City, southwest China's Yunnan Province, adopted the big data analysis service two years ago, and now has a personalized learning program for every student.

Xu Hailong, principal of Wenzhou No. 21 Middle School, east China's Zhejiang Province, said that by analyzing big data over the last three years, AI can detect each student's weaknesses and give targeted suggestions for them.

With the AI algorithm, computers can select exercises for students based on their own learning situations.