Production – July 26, 2023, Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg: High school students … [+]
Lisa Chau
No longer a niche technology limited to certain high-level functions or industries, artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly evolving into a transformative force in the home, office, and classroom.
Technology is transformative, but its impacts are not always positive. For example, teachers are seeing students using AI to cheat on their assignments. AI makes teachers' jobs easier. With AI, cheaters will never thrive.
“Students assume teachers won't detect the use of AI. Our English teachers run questionable assignments through software that detects the use of AI, but to be honest it's usually obvious to teachers,” said Stephen Whiteley, a science teacher at York Suburban High School who recently retired after 34 years of teaching.
“The biggest risk is that some students will come to believe they don't need to think outside the box… AI can help, but [it] It’s no substitute for real problem solving.”
It's not all doom and gloom. AI is revolutionizing how teachers cater to the diverse learning needs and pace of individual students. Educators can leverage AI to facilitate personalized learning through intelligent tutoring systems and platforms that analyze students' strengths, weaknesses, and learning styles. The platforms customize and pace content for each student.
Individualized instruction is essential to meet the needs of diverse students, especially in classrooms with students of different abilities. AI algorithms are already being used to adjust math and reading lessons in real time to ensure every student receives the right level of support and challenge. Ideally, such data-driven approaches enable more effective, inclusive teaching methods by improving student engagement and achievement, and enabling educators to more effectively identify and address learning gaps.
TOPSHOT – A banner from the American artificial intelligence company OpenAI … [+]
“One way to incorporate AI into the classroom is to have an initial 'conversation' between the student and the application,” says Dr. Daniel Perrone, an adjunct English professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. “While the AI may be able to provide a substantive 'answer' to a writing or literature question, students can build on the application's initial answer and add their own research and explanation to humanize the answer and fill in the blanks.”
Technology leaders are warning that critical thinking will become essential in the workplace as AI handles mundane administrative tasks. Indeed, one of the attractions of AI is its potential to eliminate or greatly reduce tedious tasks.
“You know what the biggest problem with pushing AI for everything is? It's going in the wrong direction,” writer Joanna Maciejewska wrote on X. “I want an AI to do my laundry and dishes so I can do my art and writing, not an AI to do my laundry and dishes so I can do my art and writing.” Maciejewska's post has been viewed more than 3 million times and reposted more than 24,000 times.
Because of this powerful allure, teachers should not rely on these new tools as shortcuts, but rather use them intentionally to enhance teaching and outcomes in the classroom.
Alice Keeler is a 25-year veteran math teacher with an MS in Educational Media Design and Technology. She helps teachers effectively integrate student-centered technology into their classrooms.
“We’re just at the beginning of using AI in education,” says Alice.
“Hopefully, AI will help us realize that coming up with the right answer or memorizing facts isn't so important anymore. Even students who struggle with grammar or letter writing can be empowered with generative AI to succeed in this new world,” she said.
Unfortunately, Keeler has seen the opposite happen.
“Many math programs and other tools have forced students to watch terrible videos or use low-level problems, which is neither engaging nor a good use of technology,” she said. “AI tends to push this even further by speeding up worksheets or using robots as tutors. Is this really an improvement? AI should be used to make schools more flexible and human, and to increase human interaction. AI should engage students in meaningful, creative tasks that teach critical thinking, so we're not trying to compete with robots, but being the best people we can be.”
Therefore, there is a need now to further build and leverage technology in ways that enhance, not undermine, our lives. AI technologies must be deployed in ways that significantly improve educational outcomes and workforce readiness. To achieve this, it is critical to address challenges related to access, data privacy, and teacher training to ensure the fair and ethical implementation of AI in education.
