This article was originally written in Spanish. Your browser can translate it automatically.
Adriana Caballero is an EdTech and e-learning expert, a 3X EdTech Founder, Director of Educational Experience and Innovation at Instituto Profesional IACC in Chile, and creator of the EXD Model. In this interview, she reflects on the impact of artificial intelligence on online education and the keys to designing student-centred experiences.
────────────────────────────────────────────────
Beyond the hype: what does it mean today to hyper-personalise an online student's experience with artificial intelligence?
Hyper-personalisation goes beyond giving each student different content; it's about understanding that every person arrives with their own reality: work schedules, family dynamics, habits, culture, prior education, preferences and other conditions that shape their educational experience.
In online education, there's also the possibility of reaching other regions and even countries that speak other languages. Today, AI makes it possible to respond instantly, adapt to each student's pace and needs, suggest learning pathways and provide support in practically any discipline.
That said, technology alone doesn't guarantee that hyper-personalisation will be effective. If the experience isn't designed with the student at the centre, AI ends up doing the same old things, just faster. That's why you always have to start with strategy and then move to technology, never the other way around.
Scale versus human warmth: how can AI be used without students feeling they're interacting with a cold, distant machine?
Coldness doesn't come from the machine; it comes from poor design. There are platforms without a drop of AI that feel cold, and automated experiences that feel close.
The real difference lies in the intention behind how the experience was designed, not in whether technology or automation was used. In teaching and learning, AI can also become an enabler of more human experiences by freeing up time for teachers to focus on interaction and practice.
In this new digital and AI context, those of us who work in educating people have a responsibility to put special emphasis on how we design that closeness. Sometimes it's achieved through technology and sometimes through a strategy of human support; how that mix is designed is what will set one educational institution apart from another.
Coldness doesn't come from the machine; it comes from poor design.
Learning analytics and early detection: how does this technology help intervene before a student drops out?
A student doesn't drop out on just any day: they drop out after weeks of signals that no one managed to pick up. They stop logging into the classroom, hand things in late, skip activities, submit work below the required quality or stop responding.
Today, AI-powered analytics can detect those patterns long before they turn into dropout. The technology identifies the signals while there's still room to intervene and helps teams prioritise, since not all of them mean the same thing.
But the alert alone changes nothing without concrete action behind it: a message, a call or an adjustment to the learning path. The key is detecting these signals in time to intervene before the student leaves. And in online education, making students feel they're not alone is also essential.
The role of the teacher-designer: how does their work change if AI adapts the learning path?
Teachers don't disappear with AI; they transform. They stop being the ones who deliver content and become the ones who contextualise experiences, support decisions and interpret what the data, the context and the discipline are saying.
In course design, this means moving from producing materials to orchestrating experiences: deciding what's solved with AI, what requires practice and what only works when there's another person on the other side.
AI can adapt pathways and do more and more things, but it can't define what's worth learning or why; that judgement will remain human. That's why I believe the teacher of the future won't be the one who knows the most, but the one who best situates learning and listens best to their environment.
The future of the virtual classroom: what innovation will most radically transform the online university experience in the next 3 to 5 years?
I believe the most radical change will be AI agents that accompany students throughout their entire journey. I'm not talking about a reactive chatbot that answers questions, but a proactive companion that knows their history, pace and goals, that guides them, challenges them and connects them with people when needed.
That will change the very idea of the classroom, because learning will stop living inside a course and start living around the person.
That said, no agent can solve the complete experience on its own. The recipe for hyper-personalisation is a mix of what technology does and what human support sustains, and that mix changes depending on the discipline, the student's profile and the moment in their journey.
That's why the innovation won't be the technology itself, but how we decide to design it strategically.
────────────────────────────────────────────────
Hyper-personalisation points to a new way of thinking about the educational experience: it isn't just about incorporating artificial intelligence, but about strategically designing how technology and human support can respond to each student's needs.
In this scenario, the role of institutions and teachers also changes: technology can adapt pathways, detect signals and support processes, but decisions about what's worth learning and how to build a meaningful experience still require human judgement.
Subscribe to Educational Outlook
Join the Klarway community and receive technology and education trends directly in your inbox.