ChatGPT launched last year and it is a mark of our cultural moment to see people wish a program happy birthday via social media. Since then, it’s been difficult to foresee how generative AI will impact education—the advances have been so rapid in the last year alone. But there is a recent example of how
Great essay, thank you! I recently gave a talk and a workshop with a group of 600 teachers about the same topic. I am going to write about it in my sub, and I am wondering if I can do a guest post with you. Many of the conclusions on problems are aligned, and I’d like to expand on what solutions we can propose.
I completely agree. But finding the line between acceptable and efficacious use of AI in schools and classrooms vs. counterproductive use is going to be an enormous challenge, especially if, as Marc notes, the charge is lead by the AI companies and not educators themselves. For that reason alone, it is paramount that more and better AI literacy be made available to K-12 teachers so they can learn what works and what doesn't as far as how AI can assist with teaching and learning. Amidst all the AI hype, I read Justin Reich's Failure to Disrupt: Why Technology Alone Can't Transform Education over the summer. His arguments and evidence should be sobering to the Silicon Valley crowd that believes generative AI is going to be a panacea for education - Reich convincingly argues these claims have been made many times before and schools are notoriously resistant to change. As a longtime teacher, I am not afraid of being replaced by AI but I am nervous schools will have difficulty getting the right balance and resist an all or none approach. I think there can be real value in using AI to help especially some of our most vulnerable students, but the reality is likely to be something very different.
Hi Steve, thanks for the reply. I'm working with Justin Cerenzia Episcopal Academy and they've got a year-long professional development series about AI and education. They've also partnered with Flintk12 to explore ethical use cases. If there's a path to follow right now, I think it is that one.
Great essay, thank you! I recently gave a talk and a workshop with a group of 600 teachers about the same topic. I am going to write about it in my sub, and I am wondering if I can do a guest post with you. Many of the conclusions on problems are aligned, and I’d like to expand on what solutions we can propose.
Great essay! I’ve been pondering many of pitfalls you mentioned. I’m curious if you read or heard Dr. Vivienne Ming’s work on the topic?
Here are two relevant samples going back to 2018:
https://socos.org/books/books/how-to-robot-proof-your-kids/
https://www.classcentral.com/course/youtube-future-of-education-i-vivienne-ming-i-how-to-robot-proof-your-kids-i-singularityu-czech-summit-2018-156913
I completely agree. But finding the line between acceptable and efficacious use of AI in schools and classrooms vs. counterproductive use is going to be an enormous challenge, especially if, as Marc notes, the charge is lead by the AI companies and not educators themselves. For that reason alone, it is paramount that more and better AI literacy be made available to K-12 teachers so they can learn what works and what doesn't as far as how AI can assist with teaching and learning. Amidst all the AI hype, I read Justin Reich's Failure to Disrupt: Why Technology Alone Can't Transform Education over the summer. His arguments and evidence should be sobering to the Silicon Valley crowd that believes generative AI is going to be a panacea for education - Reich convincingly argues these claims have been made many times before and schools are notoriously resistant to change. As a longtime teacher, I am not afraid of being replaced by AI but I am nervous schools will have difficulty getting the right balance and resist an all or none approach. I think there can be real value in using AI to help especially some of our most vulnerable students, but the reality is likely to be something very different.
Hi Steve, thanks for the reply. I'm working with Justin Cerenzia Episcopal Academy and they've got a year-long professional development series about AI and education. They've also partnered with Flintk12 to explore ethical use cases. If there's a path to follow right now, I think it is that one.