Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing industries, breaking down long and successful sectors while creating new opportunities in the process. However, often, when thinking about AI in an academic setting, we are quick to come up with less constructive assumptions or theories. For example, AI will reduce students’ creativity and critical thinking skills due to over-reliance on AI tools, such as ChatGPT, or another common theory is that AI produces biased information for students(Zhang et al., 2024). Therefore, for this blog, I want to focus on how AI technology can improve the learning experience and add value to students by highlighting an interesting AI tool called YouLearn.ai.
YouLearn.ai is an innovative tool that aids students in harnessing critical information from different types of learning materials, including, journal papers, books, videos, and slides. YouLearn.ai does this by providing a chatbot that transforms the traditional learning experience into a collaborative and interactive process(YouLearn. 2024). Furthermore, students can input links from any learning material, and YouLearn.ai will provide a summary and divide the information into easy-to-understand sections. Students can further ask any question on the uploaded content, by providing prompts and engaging in an interactive conversation with YouLearn.ai. In addition, YouLearn.ai can also transform the information into flashcards, where students can test their knowledge on the subject(YouLearn. 2024).
To reflect on my experience with this tool, I find the user interface (UI) very welcoming and comfortable. Furthermore, the latency for uploading materials and receiving feedback on my prompts was smooth enough to ensure an adequate interaction. My favorite functionality of this tool was the flashcard because YouLearn.ai provides a way to immediately test your knowledge and to see whether you possess a good understanding of the subject. I believe that AI tools, such as YouLearn.ai, can make learning fun and interactive, which can result in faster and better comprehension of the subject. Now for the real question. Would I ever use this tool to study? Personally, I prefer the more traditional way of studying, which involves going through the material page by page while taking notes during the process. By reviewing every aspect of the material, I acquire a deeper understanding of the core concepts, which allows me to understand the bigger picture. However, sometimes, there is just too much material and not enough time to go through all of them. Therefore, AI tools such as YouLearn.ai can assist students in managing their workload when faced with a lot of work and a limited amount of time.
References
YouLearn. (2024, Sep 24,). YouLearn. https://app.youlearn.ai/learn/content/5yfh5cf4-0w
Zhang, S., Zhao, X., Zhou, T., & Kim, J. H. (2024). Do you have AI dependency? the roles of academic self-efficacy, academic stress, and performance expectations on problematic AI usage behavior. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 21(1)https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-024-00467-0
Hey Gerome, thanks for sharing this article, I found it to be a very interesting read.
You provided a well balanced perspective on the role of AI in education. I agree that there is a tendency to assume that AI tools could hinder creativity and critical thinking, but your article does an great job of showing how tools like YouLearn.ai can enhance learning. I would like to extent your argument and highlight that these tools have the potential to benefit not only students but also universities and lecturers. By integrating such technologies into platforms like Panopto or Canvas, institutions could provide more personalised learning experiences and streamline the creation study material. This could save time for teaching staff, allowing them to focus more on instruction.