The Growing Pains of AI
On Mondays I share a different ed tech quote on our Thompson Classroom social media pages for our staff to consider.
Calculators are going to ruin the foundational skills required for mathematics!
Search engines are going to ruin the ability for student’s to find information in their libraries!
Wikipedia is going to fill the world with misinformation!
Are we sensing a theme here…… as we see troves of concerns along the lines of:
AI is going to ruin all my assessment plans!
In the words of John Finch (circa 2013), “we can either legislate out of the problem or educate out of the problem”. Sure, we can fill our time and energy with sourcing AI-detection software and cross-referencing now outdated assessment submissions with these tools. OR, we can pivot and not only adjust our programming to match the reality of our current environment but also educate students on appropriate, responsible, and ethical use of AI.
The quote this week comes from the book, AI For Educators, by Matt Miller from the Ditch That Textbook organization. They have multiple resources available freely for use by educators, school administrators, and families through their webpage. I really like their dedicated section on “How To Define Cheating and Plagiarism with AI”, see graphic below:
My recommendation to educators would be to:
- Inform yourself on the programs that are available
- I recommend joining the #ETMOOC2 community and sourcing their amazing database of resources
- Have open conversations with students about their capabilities and limitations
- John Spencer has a great post on his blog responding to AI in education, including a variety of prompts that can be used in facilitating conversations
- Matt Miller has a section in his database entitled “How do I teach class tomorrow knowing this exists?”
- Identify the role AI can play in a variety of contexts
- 30 Ways AI Can Support Teaching and Learning (infographic)
- How to Use #chatgpt in a High School Math Class (YouTube Video)
- 60+ Must Try ChatGPT Prompts for Teachers (ebook)