From Chalkboards to Chatbots

Shivani Stumpf, Chief Product and Innovation Officer at PowerSchool, offers insights into the edtech landscape in the UAE.

What are some common challenges UAE schools face, and how do you help them overcome these issues?

We’ve discovered that educators in the UAE encounter many of the same obstacles as their peers worldwide.

During our Innovation in Education Summit in Dubai, we polled attending educators to identify their primary challenges this school year. They highlighted student behavior management, delivering engaging high-quality tier-one instruction, responsible use of AI tools, and integrating existing edtech for personalized learning in the classroom.

As AI technology advances, concerns arise regarding security, privacy, and access to student data. Our approach centres on the use of Responsible AI, ensuring our solutions undergo rigorous certification for application, database, and infrastructure security. Importantly, we emphasize that our customers retain ownership of student and school data, with no rights for us to access or sell this information. We strictly limit the collection, maintenance, use, and sharing of student personal data to authorized educational purposes as approved by parents or students.

PowerSchool enhances educator effectiveness by consolidating access to all necessary instructional tools. This integration streamlines workflows, eliminating the need for multiple systems and simplifying data access, enabling educators to pinpoint student support requirements more accurately.

Addressing instructional gaps and student behaviour to optimize achievement and readiness for the real world remains a priority. We provide tools that create personalized learning environments, identifying and reducing learning gaps through user-friendly dashboards and comprehensive reporting. Products like PowerSchool ContentNav and PowerBuddy for Learning utilize AI-generated recommendations, facilitating access to administrator-approved content tailored to enhance student preparedness as lifelong learners.

To explore these insights and more, we’ve published a report on our website that discusses trends and challenges specific to the MEA region.

The complimentary report is available for download on our website: https://www.powerschool.com/middle-east-edtech-focus-report-2024/.

With PowerSchool’s extensive global network, what prompted the decision to invest in this region?

 As a provider of cloud-based education software, PowerSchool is uniquely positioned to offer comprehensive education technology solutions throughout the region. Our goal is to assist schools and educators in adopting advanced technologies and simplifying the delivery of high-quality education. Acknowledging the UAE’s substantial growth opportunities and the government’s initiative to transform education through AI integration, we have established our headquarters for the Middle East and Africa in Dubai. This decision enables us to meet the rising need for educational technology solutions not only in the UAE but also across the entire region.

What are the risks of integrating AI into the classroom? How do you prevent students from cheating?

 The misconception that using AI tools constitutes cheating is often fuelled by concerns that tools like ChatGPT and Copilot enable students to easily cheat or compromise the authenticity of their work.

It’s crucial to distinguish between employing AI as a learning aid and its misuse for academic dishonesty. AI can positively impact education when used ethically and responsibly, empowering students to develop critical thinking skills, deepen their comprehension of complex topics, and stimulate creativity.

In our products, such as PowerBuddy, an innovative AI-powered assistant integrated across our existing offerings, we’ve implemented safeguards against plagiarism. PowerBuddy for Learning embedded within PowerSchool Schoology guides students by posing thought-provoking questions rather than providing direct answers. This approach encourages students to enhance problem-solving abilities and gain a deeper grasp of the subject matter.

There’s also a growing acceptance of AI in classrooms, with 75% of teachers in the UAE recognizing the potential value of generative AI. By harnessing AI-driven tools, educators can personalize learning experiences, deliver timely feedback, and pinpoint areas needing intervention, thereby enhancing student engagement and academic achievement.

Addressing concerns about data privacy, especially regarding student data, remains a priority for us at PowerSchool. We understand the importance of a cautious approach to integrating AI into educational tools. That’s why we’ve established Six Guiding Principles that govern our AI initiatives. These principles ensure that ethical considerations are central to our approach whenever AI is integrated into our products, including PowerBuddy.

 How do you leverage advanced technology in education without losing the human element?

At PowerSchool, our guiding principles prioritize a human-centered approach to AI. Our AI solutions are designed to enhance and amplify the work of educators, not replace it. By using AI to streamline administrative tasks and offer insights into student progress, teachers gain more opportunities to focus on fostering students’ social-emotional skills, critical thinking abilities, and creativity.

AI also facilitates hands-on learning experiences through access to interactive simulations, virtual laboratories, and educational games. These immersive learning tools complement traditional teaching methods by encouraging curiosity, exploration, and the development of critical thinking skills among students.

It’s crucial to understand that AI is not intended to replace human interaction in education but rather to complement it. It serves as a valuable tool that enhances the overall teaching and learning experience. This distinction is important to emphasize. By dispelling misconceptions about AI threatening hands-on teaching methods, parents can embrace its potential to enrich their child’s education and prepare them for success in an increasingly digital world.

Given the ever-evolving nature of the Edtech industry, what steps are you taking to ensure that you’re staying ahead of emerging trends?

At PowerSchool, we are committed to fostering continuous learning and innovation. By staying attuned to evolving challenges and trends, we ensure our tools empower educators to effectively engage every student in personalized learning experiences.

Over the past three years, we have conducted a global survey of educators to gain valuable insights into their current challenges and opportunities. The upcoming 2024 Education Focus Report, set to debut at our EDGE Conference in July, will provide a comprehensive overview of these findings. Recently, we released a regional version of the report focusing on educator and administrator challenges in the UAE, aimed at shaping the future of student learning in the region.

Our approach to partnerships and customer relationships is collaborative. We actively seek feedback from our customers to continually refine and anticipate their needs. Through various feedback channels, such as our ideas portal, customer advisory boards, customer champions, beta testers, and user groups we encourage customers to suggest features and improvements directly.

Embracing cutting-edge technology trends, we have made substantial investments in AI. Earlier this year, we launched PowerSchool PowerBuddy, a secure AI assistant designed to deliver adaptable and personalized experiences for educators, students, administrators, and parents alike. What distinguishes PowerBuddy is its seamless integration across all PowerSchool products, making it the most contextually relevant tool for personalized learning within the existing workflows of students and educators. With robust security measures and user-friendly integration into everyday educational tools, PowerBuddy represents a significant advancement in enhancing the educational experience, minimizing change management for education agencies and learning curve for students and educators.