aI will almost certainly change the way we teach and learn. It holds both a threat and an opportunity for education. CTU Training Solutions recently hosted a webinar where a panel of industry, academia, and related experts unlocked the impact of AI on the future of education.
Facilitator Brendon de Meyer, ICT Manager at CTU Training Solutions, said at the beginning of the conversation:
Professor Bhaso Ndzendze, Dean and Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations at the University of Johannesburg, said: There are still many things we cannot do. The most visible form of higher education is natural language processing. We have seen a lot of anxiety and caution around AI and concerns that students will use it to cut corners. I think it will completely change the way we learn, but we need to figure out how to incorporate AI into the classroom. “
Professor Chiba Manojji, an associate professor at the Gordon Institute for Business Sciences, agreed that AI is in its infancy and will have a major impact on both society and education. He said, “There will be no area where this is not touched.”
Professor Ndzendze continues: Efforts have been made to adapt AI to African languages, but similar challenges have been seen with Google Translate being biased towards certain languages and underrepresenting African languages. The question is, what, if anything, are you doing to solve the problem of NLP having a natural English bias? “
In agreement with the above, Professor Johan Steyn, Founder of AIforBusiness.net said:
Gerhard Dippenaar, AI in Education Consultant at Input/Output AI Consulting, said: With limited access to and understanding of technology, adopting AI will be a very different experience for them. AI in education is still in its infancy, but its impact is not the same everywhere. we know it will be big. “
Professor Stein said he has some controversial views about the future of education. “I think we run the risk of losing its relevance, especially if higher education institutions don’t adopt AI technology. We need to consider how higher education must reorient and adapt in this rapidly changing world.In the age of AI, artisanal jobs such as plumbing will be automated. You can’t, so it’s a high-paying job, and I think in the future, training will not be three or four-year courses, but split into specific smaller qualifications to build your career trajectory. ”
Emile Ormond, PhD researcher in AI Ethics and Governance, adds: A lot of the focus has been on risk, and I think it offers great opportunities. Especially in education, we want to see more balanced conversations without compromising risks like plagiarism. “
“We have already seen some of the negative effects of AI, so we tend to be risk averse, but we also need to consider whether AI presents significant opportunities in certain areas.” Professor Chiba comments. “ChatGPT has really pushed this technology to its limits. It has an easy user interface and the ease of use always makes things grow.
“From an educational perspective, you can’t help but bring it into your learning. These are the tools that people have available to them in the business world and in their daily lives. You can’t stop people from using it. It’s , defeats the purpose of what we do as educators.”
He believes that educators at all levels of education are often more concerned with assessments and whether students pass tests. We lost sight of the fact that education is not about passing tests and exams, it’s about learning. Must be built in. Guidelines for ethical and unethical use are required.Educators have a responsibility to explain how to enable students to use this as part of their learning pathways. Instead of seeing AI as a replacement for our jobs, we must see it as making us more efficient.”
Threats and Opportunities AI Brings to Education
Dr. Taskeen Adam, Co-Director of Open Development and Education, believes AI is almost a Trojan horse that can enter and destabilize education. “We have been using the same material for decades and have never been forced to change. I believe AI is a tool for change. We hear from students, too: The onus is on educators to rethink how they want to teach, and shift the focus from learning for a specific purpose to learning from a lifelong perspective. AI pushes the boundaries of learning, allowing teachers to spend less time on automated tasks like grading and more time providing personalized learning and support.”
However, it does warn of potential inequalities, with some people getting access to the premium model and others only getting access to the free version. Another potential downside is that AI cannot be used by people due to load shedding.
“The global adoption of technology in education is transforming learning,” said Archana Pandita, Ph.D., senior faculty and course leader at Westford University College, Dubai. should do what they are good at. “Yes, students will always want to use AI tools to write their essays. ChatGPT is a great starting point for writing assignments, but also for helping students critically and developing their own ideas. is the teacher’s responsibility, and we need to work together to ensure that AI is used in and out of the classroom in a safe and responsible manner.”
Is there an education level to start adopting AI?
Dr. Adam said: My main concern is if I use AI to perform redundant tasks, will my learners understand the basics before moving on to the next level? AI cannot replace skill learning. “
Professor Chiba agrees that he has seen AI enable more individualized learning in lower grades. “The onus shifts to the user to understand that basic skills are required. It’s where they come into play that shapes the way they think and the information they receive. should be involved, identify risks and opportunities, and see how they can be used.”
Ethics for AI in Education
Abejide Ade-Ibijola, Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Applications at the Johannesburg Business School, believes that with AI, we will be less involved in the creation of technology. “We should focus on technical education, especially innovation, with the aim of solving the situation in society, especially in Africa. We need a knowledge base that is
We need to look at it from a societal level, Ormond said. We don’t know if technology works and its impact is not the same, so we have to be aware of what we don’t know and always be aware of the ethical risks, especially in a country like South Africa where there is massive inequality. Forgetting that most AI apps are developed by companies for commercial purposes, they don’t know what they’re dealing with, they monitor it, they emit it It takes humility to know that we must recognize that entities may not have motives aligned with ours.”
One of the big ethical questions about AI is its impact on young minds, says Professor Ndzendze. “We are going into a world where people need to be able to use this technology, so deciding when to allow this technology is a big ethical dilemma, but the potential impact on neurodevelopment. I don’t know.”
Dr. Adam said: Consider what it means for learners to spend their entire lives through algorithms. Infuse the learner experience by personalizing learning with algorithms that identify correct and deviant behavior. But deviant thinking can stifle creativity because it can be creative. “
Grover Abrahams, MD at Verve Digital, agrees that AI has the potential to help create personalized learning paths. “But before we get there, it still takes a lot of learning from a machine perspective. At this stage, we still need human oversight to make sure the AI is working as intended.” .”
AI, ChatGPT, Plagiarism
According to Professor Steyn, students cheat because institutions value grades over learning. “The ultimate goal of education is to enable people to earn a living and demonstrate their talents and interests. If you expect students to repeat information like parrots, they cheat. We need to assess whether we can understand and apply the information we provide and evaluate it based on ChatGPT and cheating conversations how we assess whether we are successful in teaching may be forced to change.”
Professor Chiba said a teacher’s central job is to help learners understand theory and apply it. Learners should ask themselves what value they derive from cheating.
“If a certification is your ticket to success, you may be hunted down in the future if you earn your certification through cheating because you don’t have the necessary skills for the role. I think it’s the approach: Are you teaching your students to spit out information, or are you teaching them to apply what they’ve learned?”
He suggested shifting the blame. “It’s not the teacher’s responsibility, it’s the individual’s responsibility to choose.”
Dippenaar also agrees: It also affects students who don’t cheat because they may get college seats or scholarships they don’t actually work for. “
“Good artists copy, good artists steal. The laziest people know how to take shortcuts and get things done faster,” says Professor Steyn. “Students can use AI to do their homework faster. For example, AI can be used to check spelling.”
Professor Ndzendze concludes with a profound point: We shouldn’t outsource all our thinking to these technologies. If the electricity goes out in a sudden accident, all knowledge will be lost. “
