Teachers using AI

A couple of reflections from the observations made recently.

Last week, I presented at a teachers' professional development day. The group taught in secondary schools. My session reiterated the importance of AI literacies and the focus on using AI to support, rather than replace learning. It seems that AI literacies, both of teachers and their students, is very much up to each school. In general, it has been ad hoc, with early adopter teachers testing the technology and others avoiding it in their teaching. However, they all agreed that all of their students were using AI!! 

Therefore, important to rethink the role of tertiary education in introducing AI to students. It looks that it is still a requirement to introduce AI to all students entering tertiary education, given the hit and miss nature of it's use at school. That way, we help our learners all have a formal introduction to AI, in the context of their programmes. 

The teachers I presented to used AI for their work. As per this Singapore Straits Times article time is not saved but re-allocated, it does not reduce workload but redefines it. Therefore, as with students, it is important to work out how AI can help with the administrative and planning aspects of teaching (of which there are many). As always, there is a balance between using AI to support, rather than replace teaching. This Guardian article  details student complains when they perceive that AI is being used to replace teachers. After all, students pay not only for the content of learning, but also the socio-constructivist aspects that support and enhance learning.

So in all endeavours with AI, it is important to sift out the salient objectives, listen to the perspectives of users, be open to trying new ways of doing things, and to always be 'in-charge' as humans need to be the ones who not only make decision to adopt AI but also the ones who evaluate and judge the degree with which AI is deployed.