Digital technology has become ubiquitous in U.S. classrooms, and more and more schools are adopting the technology generative AI.
Yet equitable access remains a challenge as millions of families, often in underserved and underrepresented communities, lack access to computers or the Internet at home. Not only does this impact students’ ability to attend classes remotely, do homework, or simply adapt, but it also creates a divide in what career opportunities are considered possible.
Advertising
STEM-designated. Tar Heel ROI. No compromises.
UNC Kenan-Flagler’s premier online MBA is designed for experienced professionals looking to take their careers to the next level. Students have access to lifelong career benefits and a global network of over 51,000 business school graduates. Earn your MBA online in as little as 18 months or up to three years. MBA scholarships available.
Amazon hopes to help change this dynamic. In one Assets The company exclusively announces the founding of the Amazon Education Equity Initiative– A $100 million commitment to support educational organizations in developing digital learning opportunities for underserved and underrepresented communities. Over the next five years, the funds will be distributed in the form of AWS Cloud Credits.
Swami Sivasubramanian, vice president of AI and data at Amazon Web Services (AWS), says the initiative is based on the idea that AI is the most transformative technology of this generation and will fundamentally change every industry – and that technology barriers must be overcome.
“Education and opportunities should be accessible to everyone,” says Sivasubramanian Assets. “Unfortunately, global demand for education technology is increasing, but many organizations in the edtech sector that serve learners from underserved communities do not have the resources they need to leverage cutting-edge technologies.” Cloud and AI.”
Organizations like Tangible Africa and Code.org have previously worked with Amazon, providing computer science education to millions of students around the world. This new initiative will enable scaling of projects. Code.org, for example, is planning to expand its AI teaching assistant, which is powered by Amazon bedrock.
Karim Meghji, chief product officer at Code.org, said the commitment is exciting because it enables educational organizations of all sizes to leverage AWS technology to drive positive outcomes in students’ lives.
“This equity initiative and the funding and support that Amazon is pledging can, in my opinion, have an amazing outcome in reaching these students through organizations large and small in ways that, in my experience, have made a difference in students’ lives . “We serve directly through Code.org every day.”
Learn more: Here are 7 free AI courses You can study online with leading technology companies and universities
Computer science and AI skills: crucial for all careers
Learning about Computer Science and AI is paramount, say Sivasubramanian and Meghji – regardless of whether students want to work in it Software engineeringNursing, finance or another field.
“AI is going to be such a necessary skill, just like knowing Word and Excel and a lot of other things is important,” Sivasubramanian adds.
Particularly for those seeking a technical career, Sivasubramanian suggests that understanding core aspects of computer science, such as how operating systems work and program execution, is crucial, along with the ability to use AI to support programming.
“It’s not about learning 10 different things Programming languagesbut it’s about learning how to code, let’s say, and then accepting these AI assistants,” he says.
He points to a 2023 AWS survey that found employers are willing to pay an average of 47% more for an employee AI capabilities compared to someone without them. When AWS began internally developing and using its own AI assistant, Amazon Q, he added, the company saved about 4,500 developer years internally.
The number of new ones Software developer Accordingly, the number of jobs in the next decade is expected to be the second highest of all occupations US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Both Sivasubramanian and Meghji also point out that computational thinking or problem solving are the soft skills that every student should master to ultimately unlock career opportunities and generate economic benefits for them.
“The most important thing we all need to do is to expand access, especially for young learners, to provide them with access to cutting-edge technology and to expand education for not just millions, but hundreds of millions of students from underserved and underrepresented parts of the world “democratize the community too,” says Sivasubramanian.
Organizations can apply for AWS’s Education Equity Initiative on-line.
Amazon is No. 2 on the Fortune 500 list and generated a profit of over $30 billion in 2023 alone. According to Synergy Research Group, AWS controls the largest percentage of the cloud infrastructure market.