AI In Education?
Recently, Lakehead hosted a series of “Generative AI: Responsible Uses of AI for Teaching and Learning" seminars . The event covered a lot of information surrounding useful, but responsible ways that AI can be used in education. The topic drew my interest because I am consistently told that AI in education is a hard no. And I started thinking about the impacts that AI can have on students and teachers alike. I did some research of my own and made some interesting discoveries.
Stanford University made some interesting points about AI’s future in education:
AI can help mould more confident learners: Teachers love incorporating class discussions into their lessons so that students can learn from each other and build on each other’s ideas. Still, there is always hesitance when it comes to open participation in class. Students may fear saying something “incorrect.” Therefore, the argument is that if students have access to generative AI during class, students may be willing to take more risks in their learning and contribute to discussion when their ideas are validated by the AI system (Chen, 2023). Essentially, students can ask AI systems questions in the middle of class.
Improve Inquiry?! Generative AI can come up with answers in a very quick manner, but it doesn’t mean it is necessarily always accurate. Arguably, it can improve students' research and problem-solving skills by students having to prove that the answers they receive are correct; is it fake news or not (Chen, 2023)?
Still… we can’t deny the downfalls…
What happened to student learning? Despite the opportunities that AI provides, we cannot deny that students may let generative AI think for them… not only is that academic dishonesty, but there is no authentic learning happening when the answers are just given without the thoughts behind the answers being provided (Chen, 2023).
Can’t assume AI knows all! As mentioned above, the answers AI systems provide are not always 100% true (Chen, 2023). Just as gossip spreads in the hands of unreliable sources, AI often does not source its answers. Therefore, you are always taking a chance with AI.
I am not an AI expert by any means, but I think it’s safe to say that we should be cautious when considering generative AI. Speak to your instructors and make sure you keep your learning in line with academic integrity!
Reference:
Chen, C. (2023). AI Will Transform Teaching and Learning. Let’s Get it Right. Stanford HAI.https://hai.stanford.edu/news/ai-will-transform-teaching-and-learning-lets-get-it-right.