AI or Artificial Intelligence is enabling machines to be more human-like. Essentially, the computer machine or Bot is now becoming smarter and more intelligent. AI Engineers use tools and techniques to program the device in a way such that it is able to develop reasoning skills, decode meaningful inferences, and make lesser mistakes by analyzing what went wrong in the past.

As AI is being put to good use in every sector, people are starting to have greater confidence in its ability to help solve problems. Even in the education sector AI is being integrated, along with Learning Management System (LMS) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software to upgrade the loopholes, if any, and provide a more fulfilling experience to teachers & students.

With the advent of AI in Education, the following is now possible;

Introducing New Gadgets in Classrooms:

In the 90s, kids were not even allowed to carry a mobile phone in their schools and colleges and had to take down notes dictated by the teacher in a notebook.

Well, time flies really fast and as of today, every class is endowed with a smart board, tabs, and laptops, apart from other EdTech gadgets. Apple recently had a big launch of its ‘Apple Glasses’ powered by AI and AR (Augmented Reality) technology. These glasses provide learners with an immersive experience by giving them an almost real-life adventure through 3D visual aids. A student from Dubai can visit the Seven Wonders of the World without actually traveling to far-away destinations. So much so, that even science experiments can be conducted and learnt in a safe environment, by using AR glasses.

Other cool AI-influenced gadgets found in today’s IB schools across the Middle East include: intelligent robots, virtual catboats, and 3D printers, to name a few.

Have you heard about Matatalab’s latest arrival – the ‘VinciBot’ Coding Robot set? This little toy buddy fascinates children of 8+ years in schools across the UAE and other regions. It features rich technology and enables our young programmers to learn Python to prepare for future inter-school competitions. VinciBot is widely in sync with the STEAM curriculum, propagating the widespread reach of coding, AI in education, and robotics.

Cleaver Content Strategy:

Wondering why schools need to have a content strategy in place? That’s because our Gen-Zs won’t settle for anything less. They want to be actively involved in the teaching-learning process and demand innovative teaching aids to make the classroom sessions interesting. Thanks to AI, educators have access to multi-model approaches to teaching as per the preferences of the student. For example; a child who is more of a visual learner will be offered to study from videos and presentations, while the other student who is an auditory learner may be presented with an audio book to grasp the same concept.

AI-backed educative games are trending in GCC regions. The student is given the liberty to complete their homework assignments by participating in educative games and advancing gradually from one level to the other while mastering concepts. The multi-sensory activities help retain information and motivate students to look forward to studying because it’s so thrilling to destroy aliens by solving a Math puzzle and practice phonetics by helping Sarah find her way out of the Maze.

Superior Grading and Feedback Mechanism:

AI can automate grading and make the process hassle-free for teachers. The worksheets or test papers that have the MCQ section are auto-corrected using AI pattern recognition algorithms, thereby freeing up time for educators to focus on more important aspects. Even for long answers, the Bot crawls through paragraphs and highlights spelling errors & grammatical mistakes, to reveal the child’s level of proficiency. One can even analyze trends and find patterns to draw conclusions towards the following: which subject the student is lagging in, get advice on concepts that need more practice, adapt to the learning pace that is most advantageous for the class, etc.

Therefore, we can conclude that AI has the upper hand to benefit the education sector, but the main hero remains our dear ‘teachers’. AI is simply a means to provide navigation, while the captain of the ship is our teacher.

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“Hello Mr. Arif, we are happy to partner with you. Hope you are satisfied with our services. If there is anything that I, your Robot Buddy Ms. Farah can do, then feel free to ask me. Have a great day.”

This is an example of how brands are leveraging on auto-calls made by a Robot to an existing or new customer. The system is fed with prerecorded messages and the bot browses through a vast database to find the exact contact number to whom the telephonic call needs to be made.

Essentially, the telemarketing industry is undergoing a rapid shift and human tele-callers are being replaced by active robot calls. This works wonderfully when the population is huge and timelines are tight. For example; making reminder calls to over a lakh of visitors who have signed up for the Dubai Expo exhibition! Imagine how much time, effort, and resources would have to be dedicated to performing this task!

Robot calls are inexpensive, and the chances of errors are minimal or nearly close to zero. Thus, various players in the Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Customer (B2C) segments are advocating the quick & safe usage of Robot Calls to stay in touch with their stakeholders. Unless this type of Customer Relationship strategy is used for a cause and is purpose-driven, the activities can be carried out legitimately.

However, we can’t discard the fact that out of 20 calls a day, 5 may be fake ones to trouble people deliberately or have some unfair agenda. The rate of telemarketing scams is increasing across countries, including the Middle East region. These fraudulent calls need to be reported to authorities, but unfortunately, most receivers don’t have the time to do so and hence the hoax call bubble is difficult to burst. Let us leave this discussion aside for now!

Through this Blog, we aim to highlight some of the most common Robot Call campaigns that companies undertake and use for the advantage of brand promotion and the satisfaction of end users

Telemarketing Calls: Who doesn’t know this scheme? Almost every now and then we answer a call that promotes the sale of a product or service. From automobile companies conveying their launch of a new car to the real estate sector trying to sell us homes, the variety of content is vast. Even banks and financial institutions want to sell their loans and credit cards to individuals, via the auto-call feature. The robot delivers the prerecorded message to the customer and makes the sales pitch on behalf of an executive.

Loyalty Campaign: Existing priority bank customers or holiday program VIP members deserve special treatment via loyalty programs. These calls give personalized messages to the receiver, though it is conveyed by a robot. Let us take for example, the Royal Enfield premium club in the UAE is hosting a special dinner night for all its loyal customers and the invite is particularly conveyed via the tele robot. Another example; is that your credit card is rewarding you for crossing the monthly spending limit and is therefore crediting points to your account. All such value-added information is sorted thanks to the advent of technology!

Awareness Generation: The Government or authorities of GCC and other regions, may want to summon their citizens to participate in various campaigns that have a strong social or environmental agenda. Saving water, installing solar panels in your household, carpooling, growing more trees, taking vaccinations on time, etc. are some examples of messages that the public Health & Wellness and Environmental departments may want to convey to the public at large. For such reasons, important notification calls are typically automated, to reach every citizen and expat population.

We know that coding is driving the future today and AI is accepted as the way forward. It would be totally worthwhile for our 21st-generation kids to embrace technology early on so that they can start developing critical thinking abilities through their coding journey. Learning programming language brings forth chances for developing new Robotic technologies, such as Robocalls and Chatbots, for the interest and prosperity of the human race. Robotify is staunchly propagating Robotics in the education sector to excite kids about virtual coding. Robotify offers a best-in-class, 3D browser-based robotics simulator to teach coding in Blockly or Python to anyone who is interested in learning, even in the remote interiors of the suburbs, simply by having access to WiFi and a laptop. Just as swimming is considered as a life skill, coding too is well on-par.

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Synonyms are words or phrases that have similar meanings and can be used interchangeably to explain a concept or an idea. Synonyms are basically the polished version of English skills, such that the choice of words chosen is most apt as per the context.

Synonyms are greatly popular for the following reasons

#1 It enhances your vocabulary and helps you express the meaning of the words in multiple ways depending on the situation, or the person you are interacting with.

For example: When talking to a friend you would usually say: Can you show me the ‘correct’ method to ‘build’ this toy?

When talking to an elder: Ma’am, can you please explain the ‘accurate’ steps to ‘construct’ this toy?

In the above sentence the following synonyms are noticed –

correct <-> accurate

build <-> construct

As we can notice in the example; the first sentence is more casual and the choice of words are simple, but the second one is more thought-through and profound. It sounds as if the child wants to impress the teacher.

#2 Repetition of using the same word multiple times in a sentence is avoidable thanks to the usage of synonyms. Verbal and written communication is therefore elevated and taken to the next level, thereby flaunting one’s rich exposure to vocabulary.

For example:

Sentence 1: I saw a big elephant. The elephant was so big that he could reach the tree branch.

Sentence 2: I saw a big elephant. The elephant was humungous, such that he could reach the tree branch. As you can see, instead of repeating the word ‘big’ twice, the synonym ‘humongous’ is used.

The meaning remains the same, but we could do away with using the same word ‘big’ twice. Alternate usage of words intrigues the audience and keeps their interest alive while reading a storybook.

#3 multi-cultural communication is better understood when one is aware that the same word has many alternatives.

For example:

The word ‘train’ (meaning teach in English) has a list of synonyms such as the following: instruct, coach, tutor, educate, upskill, and so on….

In the French language entraîneur (masculine) means a ‘coach’ which is the same as ‘trainer’ or ‘tutor’.

Now, if you did not know that coach in English has multiple synonyms, how would you be able to understand that entraîneur also means male tutor?

Do synonyms have the exact same meaning?

Well, this is a bit tricky to answer because no two words ever mean the exact same. It’s not like math where 2 = 2 or 7 = 7 (which is the exact same number). The meaning of the synonyms may slightly differ, however, the idea to be conveyed is pretty much the same.

For example: If you enter the search word ‘money’ in Google you will be surprised to find 20+ words that are associated with ‘money’.

Similar words to money on Google are- cash, ready money, coin, silver, paper money, currency, change, and so on.

If you read a statement that goes like this; your money will be repaid in 20 days – does not indicate that you will be getting a stack of silver coins in 20 days. It could mean cash or paper money.

So, the literal meaning of money is not perfectly synonymous with silver coins.

Therefore, English is indeed a complex language and different words are to be used as per the context, grammar, and various structured levels, to get the explanation right.

Children can even sometimes land up making mistakes, especially when their native language or mother tongue is non-English or Arabic for Arab children from Dubai in the Middle East. English is taught to them in school later, as it is universally accepted in the education and corporate world.

Keeping a dictionary handy always helps, and you may feel free to purchase a multi-linguistic dictionary available in GCC regions, where the English words have their corresponding Arabic words, to educate children and get into the momentum of judging the correct synonym properly.

Reading Eggs is an excellent platform that is promoted all across the UAE, and aims to make reading and writing really fun for students. It has multiple games and students get to earn virtual coins or golden eggs which can be exchanged for a surprise gift, by successfully completing each level (from easy to advance). The Reading Eggs Library is a comprehensive store with books galore, thereby contributing to one’s vocabulary proficiency. Explore Reading Eggs and get your hands on its Free trial pack.

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The world is spending a considerable amount of time on Digital platforms, such as social media, shopping sites, OTT networks, gaming portals, and more. Scrolling and browsing online have become a favorite pastime for many, without realizing the repercussion it might have on their emotions!

Being a major source of distraction, professionals are starting to pay less attention at work, children can’t seem to focus on their studies, and personal relationships are deteriorating, due to excessive Digital usage.

Too much screen time causes memory problems and affects the cognitive capabilities of humans. Lack of productivity and problem-solving stimulus can make our brains lazy and more dependent on technology to do the work for us.

Generally, even our sleep time is hampered due to mobile usage at night and excessive comparison with other accomplished personalities on social media, leads to depression and anxiety. That constant comparison of ‘whether or not am I good enough’ is so overpowering, that it affects our self-esteem. We can write a whole article on the Mental Health effects of giving too much importance to Digital content, however, we shall leave that for another day.

Having looked at the cons of Digital technology, there are also numerous pros that cannot be overlooked. Digital literacy is picking-up pace in Schools across Dubai and students are taught to get comfortable with technology because real-world jobs demand employees to be tech-savvy. As the famous saying goes; ‘everything in moderation is good’ and so we have hope of raising kids who are Digitally Conscious and Sensitive to the online world. The below-mentioned tips may help in developing a healthy and respectful relationship with peers online and maintaining decorum that is rooted in the value system.

Ensure Mindfulness:

When we talk to elders in a public place we naturally speak with respect because that’s what we have learnt from our parents. Why do parents then not teach their children how to behave on social media? Sit your child down and tell them what is right vs. wrong, and what is acceptable behavior vs. not, when it comes to the digital space. Some netiquettes that we need to teach our younger fellows are;

• Do not use abusive language or share memes that hurt the feelings of others.
• Use proper manners to comment or complain to the brand, about a certain product/service that you are unsatisfied with.
• Passing sly remarks on celebrities – is a complete NO.
• While dropping a review on Google it’s good to be frank, but not rude.
• Spying on friends or using unauthorized Apps for the same, is completely wrong.
• Making a fake ID just to have an anonymous identity, must be avoided at all costs.
• Sharing too much personal information about your whereabouts can backfire.
• Tactics to earn easy money by signing up to fraudulent sites causes cyber threats.
• Submitting project work by copy-pasting content from elsewhere is a wrong habit and leads to plagiarism issues.

Empathize With Others:

Don’t forget that the person sitting on the other end of a tab or phone is a human being with sentiments. Ask your child how they would feel if someone posted a bad comment on their Facebook timeline. Hurting someone’s emotions is not right.

Sharing Fake Information:

All that you see online isn’t 100% believable. The media can hype a story quite a bit and spread unauthentic rumors. This could lead to a chain of sharing fake messages, and cause havoc within your school or social circle in the UAE. Check only websites that are reliable and believe trustworthy information.

Keep a Strict Rule in Place:

According to research carried out by Microsoft, 94 percent of parents permit their children to use one or more online devices and services by the age of 9 years. Most educational resources such as explainer videos and documentaries are available online and depriving children of such content would be unfair. But at the same time, overexposure is a threat. We advise parents to install an ‘adult lock system’ such that they have full control of what sites children can access and also get to know about the history of how their children are spending time online. Constraint the number of hours your child decides to be online. A maximum of 45 minutes of online time is good enough and the rest of the hours should be spent more productively; engaging in physical activity, socializing with friends at the park, reading a book, or signing up for a hobby glass in and around your locality within the GCC region.

TechnoKids promotes digital literacy in the Middle East for students of Grades 1 to 12 years. It is an absolutely safe platform to get your kids to learn different Tech topics such as coding, how to use MS Office, video making, and even studying how to develop a gaming App. Subscribe to TechnoKids and remain rest assured about your child’s internet usage.

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