Teachers and their leaders are not yet at all focused on the how Artificial Intelligence is already impacting on education, nor on its potential to transform teaching and learning.
Perhaps this is not that surprising given that most of the studies on AI look at its possible impact on jobs and the employment market, with virtually no attention paid to its potential impact on education and training. How often is it discussed in the staff room, in workshops and education conferences? Very rarely.
At a recent Roundtable , hosted by the University of Buckingham, Professor Rose Luckin of UCL and Priya Lakhani , an AI entrepreneur , suggested the need for an’ Idiots Guide’ to AI in Education, to spell out the basics- the concepts around AI – highlighting its increasing practical relevance to teachers and students. No, its not just about robotics which can serve as something of a distraction. In terms of its potential ,think instead of a personal interactive teacher, or tutor, with you throughout your career , and life, assisting you in advancing through the foothills of knowledge to the heights of deep learning, and skills acquisition ,spotting your weaknesses and strengths, pointing you to the sources of knowledge and the support you may need, to advance to the next level of knowledge and self-awareness, helping to assess you, and you to assess yourself. This is a world not too far in the future, populated by autonomous self-motivated learners and supported by AI, which provides bespoke support not just for learning and employment, but for life , providing careers advice and pastoral support too while monitoring your well- being and health. and alerting you and others to potential problems . Much of the know- how already exists to help teachers , to reduce their workload, to use real time data to provide more reliable interactive assessment, both formative and summative, to compare a student’s performance within schools, between schools, in year groups and with peers with the same socio-economic profile, to aid teachers marking, and routine record keeping, to accelerate information acquisition, to allow teachers to tailor and personalize learning for each student, to transform the presentation of information digitally and visually, and so on . The potential for a revolution is there, its just that inertia, and the way we structure our schools system and its accountability measures, can militate against innovation and transformation. And not much will happen until leaders decide to grasp the nettle.
Neil Stephenson’s 1995 science fiction novel “The Diamond Age” offers an account of the potential in AI . It presents a fascinating piece of educational technology called “A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer” . The Diamond Age depicts a near-future world revolutionized by advances in nanotechnology, with the main character Nell using The Primer, which is a typical storybook aimed at children, but which is extended in its impact through interactive technology. Nell can change adapt alter and personalise her life, aided by interactive technology on an on- gong basis.
The primer can answer a learner’s questions (spoken in natural language), teach through allegories that incorporate elements of the learner’s environment, and presents contextual just-in-time information. (Imagine this in a school or university setting) The primer includes sensors that monitor the learner’s actions and provide bespoke feedback. The learner is in a cognitive apprenticeship with the book: The primer models a certain skill (through allegorical fairy tale characters) which the learner then imitates in real life. The primer follows a learning progression with increasingly more complex tasks. The educational goals of the primer are humanist: To support the learner to become a strong and independently thinking person.(autonomous learner)
Professor Rose Luckin reminds us that AI embraces a range of disciplines, psychology, linguistics, philosophy, cognitive science, neuro science, computer science , electrical engineering. It is cross cutting. Machine Learning will and indeed can pretty much beat us hands down in accessing knowledge. But its nonsense to suggest its about pitting man against machine, which is where much of the misunderstanding about AI comes from. Nor is it about human teachers giving way, or being replaced by AI. In short, It’s working out what machines and AI can do best to support teaching and learning. It’s about identifying where we have real challenges in education and then how AI can help us solve these challenges. It may also mean teachers having to learn new skills, but also anticipates them being relieved of routine tasks, much of which are a heavy burden on their workload,. It can help improve routine cognitive processes and make them more efficient. It can also help us to locate the gaps in our knowledge and identify inaccuracies in how we perceive our strengths and weaknesses, and tell us what we know and what we don’t know. It can help develop higher order thinking and learning skills. It can provide detailed and nuanced information about each individual’s progress: intellectually, emotionally, socially, metacognitively, (metacognition- is our ability to understand and regulate our own thinking) and in terms of students developing self-efficacy. In short, it can take much of the heavy lifting out of teaching ,says Luckin. So the message is- wake up and smell the coffee.
Note- watch out for Sir Anthony Seldons new book The Fourth Education Revolution, University of Buckingham Press, due out in May , which sets the education and AI context , provides an overview of the current AI landscape and potential developments and pitfalls , and some case studies of what is already happening around the world. .
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