AI will have a profound impact on how we teach, learn, assess, and access education. This is the biggest disruptor in education since Google went mainstream and changed our access to academic information.
As educators, we must ensure that we use AI as a tool to benefit education and our students rather than fight against it. We can use it to enhance teaching practice and learning experiences, ensuring our young people are ready for the future. In the first instance, this will be helping students to become AI literate, so we have an equal playing field for all students, both practically and academically. Imagine being in a class where one student has access to Google and the other only has access to books. There is a clear disadvantage and the same will be true of those who can or cannot us AI.
One of the early teachings will be educating students of the potential bias that can appear in AI software as the platforms draw on information from across the internet. This is coupled with the occurrence of inaccurate information, sometimes from inaccurate human commands but also as a result of the information that the AI is using.
We also need to build an understanding of which AI tool is best for each subject and discipline. Although Chat GTP is the most famous platform at the moment, the number of rivals grows daily. Have you tried making a PowerPoint presentation on beautiful.ai or a video on pictory.ai? Just like with a pencil case, we must equip students with the tools to be successful.
So how might this look in the classroom? Well in one instance it is amazing to see the lesson plans AI can write from teachers and how surprisingly accurate they are to what you were planning. By using AI for planning it opens up the time for teachers to personalize the classroom to each individual child as a starting point rather than the class as a whole.
Rather than setting students long essays to do at home that can now be fed into Chat GTP and written in the style of a middle school student, we can give students essays AI has generated and ask them to critique it and analyze the text.
On another level, with AI influencing media more than ever before will need our students to have broad perspectives to be able to interpret what is real and what is not. I am sure we have all seen some remarkably real deep fake videos manipulating the words of politicians and celebrities.
We must also appreciate that some levels of human creativity cannot be replaced by AI. Or at least not right now!
AI will change education; the true power is not in substituting human expertise but in its augmentation of teaching and learning practices. It will level the playing field for learners, cultivate critical thinking and skills essential for the future.
Adam M Greenwood