The new semester has started, and discussion posts about learning machines are flooding all social platforms: "I already have a tablet at home, do I still need to buy a learning machine?" "Is a 10,000-yuan learning machine an IQ tax?"...
Behind the discussion is the soaring sales of smart learning machines this year. According to data released by Luotu Technology, a technology industry research organization, in the first half of this year, online sales of e-paper intelligent learning machines were 108,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 275.9%.
Can education big models make education better? In this new blue ocean, what business experiences are worth talking about?
Hardware is getting smarter
From electronic dictionaries, reading machines, student tablets, and now learning machines using large models, China's educational intelligent hardware has gone through 30 years.
Traditional education hardware manufacturers, Internet giants, and online education companies are using different concepts, styles, and technologies to seize territory in this track.
When a large educational model is used in a learning machine, what does it become? "After trying out many machines in offline stores, I realized that the current learning machines have evolved a lot compared to the ones I used when I was a student." said Ms. Huang, who was buying a learning machine for her daughter in the first grade of primary school. .
The hot-selling learning machines on the market have similar appearances. Compared with entertainment-oriented tablet computers, they have no advantages in hardware parameters such as CPU and memory, and are heavier.
Learning machines are generally equipped with cameras combined with sensors for sitting posture detection. When children lean, are too close to the screen, or have their heads tilted and their backs hunched over, the learning machines will identify and remind them.
What supports the price of learning machines, which can easily reach tens of thousands of yuan, are large models and content resources. This is also the most popular track for manufacturers.
Accurately planning learning plans, learning paths, etc. based on students' current cognitive levels, learning goals, regional learning characteristics, and personal weaknesses are the highlights of learning machines equipped with large educational models, which include "teaching students in accordance with their aptitude" and "embedding Words such as "teaching for fun" are often emphasized.
These functions have hit the pain point of parents who get nervous when tutoring their children. Parents have used real money to support this 100-billion-dollar market. According to the analysis of Duojing Education Research Institute, the scale of the domestic educational intelligent hardware market is expected to exceed 100 billion yuan in 2024. Take an education technology company in Zhejiang as an example. In recent years, it has launched a new large-scale model, received hundreds of millions of yuan in financing, and launched cooperation scenarios with hundreds of schools.
Both AI and teachers are indispensable
When large educational models are commonly used in learning machines, can they really help children learn better?
"It is a general trend for large models to empower precision education." Huang Changqin, director of the Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Intelligent Education Technology and Application, told reporters that large educational models can promote the digital transformation and intelligent upgrading of education in three aspects: learning space, learning resources, and teacher roles. .
The large model of education has demonstrated the advantages of individualization for thousands of people. "Teaching students in accordance with their aptitude can improve learning effects, and large models have the ability to help personalization." NetEase Youdao CEO Zhou Feng said that younger users have a good impression of anthropomorphic functions such as voice dialogue and AR characters. With large models, users Can learn more easily.
The large education model can provide students with personalized learning resources. Pinxue, an educational technology company located in Hangzhou, has successfully trained a large end-to-end speech model, which can directly realize the interaction of speech input and speech output. "AI teachers can complete the learning of knowledge points, personalized exercises, and memory consolidation, and help children strengthen their learning habits." Yang Renbin, founder and CEO of Precision Science, said that AI teachers trained using AI technology and large data models can Accurately find the weak points of each student's knowledge to provide targeted assistance. AI develops and executes personalized learning plans based on students’ learning goals.
The change for teachers is that the big education model can gradually replace repetitive educational labor, giving teachers an extra "handy weapon."
"But education cannot be separated from the profession of teachers. The faster AI develops, the more important teachers will become." According to Shen Yifeng, CEO of Zhejiang Xuehai Education Technology Co., Ltd., large models can play a role in general education and the cultivation of top talents. "We have cooperated with a number of outstanding high schools in Zhejiang to provide functions including mathematical homework correction, teacher AI assistants, smart micro-classes and other functions, focusing on providing schools with Providing services to teachers.”
Assisting in the construction of smart campuses
"In the future, with the help of the memory and analysis capabilities of historical data of large education vertical models, by integrating more dimensions of student data, we will not only be able to provide customized learning suggestions, course recommendations and learning paths based on students' individual differences, but also be able to play roles The role of the intelligent learning companion is to provide every learner with intelligent learning services and achieve large-scale precision teaching and personalized learning. "Huang Changqin said that "precision teaching" and "personalized learning" are the key to every education. Large model targets.
To promote the realization of goals, we cannot do without the promotion of schools, institutions, society and governments. The Zhejiang government has already implemented a number of policies to pave the way for large-scale education models.
At the beginning of this year, the Provincial Government Office issued the "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Development of the Artificial Intelligence Industry", which mentioned the need to create innovative scenarios such as virtual classrooms and intelligent education assistants, and build smart libraries and smart campuses.
In April this year, the Provincial Department of Education announced the list of pilot schools for artificial intelligence education application in Zhejiang Province. 100 schools across the province were selected. The pilot schools cover universities, higher vocational schools, middle schools, and primary schools. The pilot content includes the implementation of large-scale artificial intelligence technology. Through practical research, explore the application of large models in daily teaching in schools.