The Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, continues to drive digital transformation, through the introduction of digital tools to modernise the sector, enhance teaching practices and improve learning outcomes for students.
“Digital transformation in education, in its truest and most impactful sense, must also be about improving learning, and we think artificial intelligence (AI) can definitely do that. It can help educators to personalise their instruction and spend more time on high-value teaching. AI can also be about helping students to move from passive consumption to deeper engagement, stronger problem-solving and more independent thinking,” Portfolio Minister, Senator Dr. the Hon. Dana Morris Dixon, said.
She was addressing the opening ceremony of the Inaugural CXC® Regional Education Conference at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston, on March 17.
The Minister informed that new tools, such as Jamaica Learning Assistant, will be rolled out shortly.
She noted that when this is launched, every child in Jamaica will have a 24-7 AI-powered academic assistant that is tailored to the national curriculum.
“That’s a big deal. So, what did we do? We trained the AI on our national standard curriculum, which is an excellent curriculum and then we had to train it to the Caribbean, because it would start generating questions about peaches, and things that weren’t culturally relevant,” the Minister said.
“So, in the Ministry, we’ve had to be training it some more to be culturally relevant to our situation here, so that when students are engaging with the lessons, it’s relevant to them. And so that will be available to every student on their phone, on their tablet. So, you learn something in school, you can go home, and you can use the Learning Assistant to further give you more,” she continued.
She said AI was also taught the Jamaican dialect – patois. “We did that in record time, because of AI. So, it doesn’t replace a teacher. What it does is it gives you additional tools at home, that you can engage with the lessons in the way that you learn, and we know all our children learn differently. So, this is how AI and technology can really help in getting to the outcomes you want and, ultimately, get better CSEC and CAPE scores, which is really the goal at the end of the day,” she said.
Furthermore, she said with the support of international partners, the Ministry is rolling out the Education Management Information System (EMIS).
With EMIS, school leaders are given real-time access to critical data on attendance, performance, and resource management.
The Minister said the Ministry is creating a unified, evidence-based view of the education system to drive better planning and targeted interventions.
She noted, too, that the software called Eagle Eye is being piloted to help teachers mark papers.
Eagle eye will help teachers re-prioritise their time from marking to coaching students. She added that AI is being used to create lesson plans for teachers.
The Minister noted that artificial intelligence can also be very valuable for special needs students and can help to address major education barriers when used ethically and inclusively.
She noted that the use of AI offers real opportunities and should be used wisely. “It can do a lot, but throughout it all we also have to be cautious. AI does not remove the need for judgment. It does not remove the need for standards. It does not remove the need for ethics. In fact, it increases the need for all of those. So, we must be on guard against over-reliance on this technology,” she said.
