Leveraging Generative AI in Education: Enhancing Teaching and Empowering Students

During the summer of 2020 I engaged in some fantastic learning connected to AI in Education. I had the time and it was FREE. I jumped in and started learning. I didn't understand all of it but I took the time to figure things out and reflect on how I could make the topic relevant and connected to the the learning that my Grade 3 students would be doing. 

"Artificial Intelligence (AI) is all around us, from self-driving cars, digital assistants, rideshare apps, banking apps, and so much more. Experts say AI will change 100% of jobs over the next 10 years, but there is a fear that the next generation isn’t prepared for the shift to AI."

I tried talking to people about what I was doing and why I was doing it. They didn't seem to care. They didn't think any of it was relevant. To be honest, it wasn't 'in your face' the way it is today, thanks to OpenAI's ChatGPT.

Students working with the use of AI. Image created using Midjourney AI.

Even though AI is all around us, as the quote above states, it just didn't register on people's radar. When I was engaged in my learning about AI, I remember using a conversational chat bot that I was encouraged to explore as it would provide me with experience applying/understanding what I was learning. I simply used it to 'chat' and did my best to stump the bot into not being able to converse with me. 

Fast forward to today, and we have powerful generative AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT) that can create/produce "computer code, college-level essays, poems, and even halfway-decent jokes." Personally, I have been using generative AI to inform me and save me time when I am helping my children with their homework (grade 7 and 11), assisting my students with their knowledge/understanding and demonstrating their learning, and in leisurely ways (e.g. Midjourney). 

My perspective is that generative AI can be used to augment and improve life - work and leisure - and that this improvement is not limited to any particular sector. When it comes to education, particularly K-12, AI tools can be beneficial. "Of all the areas of life where artificial intelligence (AI) will impact, the biggest might well be education."

Some of these benefits include the following:

• Personalized Learning: learning experiences tailored to individual student needs, abilities, and learning styles. AI can adapt the curriculum, pace, and content to optimize student engagement and achievement.

• Intelligent Tutoring: AI-powered tutoring systems can provide immediate feedback, guidance, and support to students, allowing them to learn at their own pace and reinforcing concepts as needed. These virtual tutors can assist in problem-solving, answering questions, and tracking progress.

• Data Analysis: AI can process and analyze large amounts of educational data, including student performance, assessment results, and learning patterns. This information can help educators identify areas of improvement, track student progress, and make data-informed decisions to enhance teaching methodologies.

• Enhanced Accessibility: AI technologies can assist students with disabilities by providing adaptive learning resources, speech-to-text and text-to-speech tools, and other assistive technologies. It can help create inclusive learning environments for students with diverse needs.

• Efficient Administrative Tasks: AI can automate administrative tasks such as grading, attendance tracking, and data management, freeing up educators' time to focus on instruction and student engagement.

Having an understanding of the benefits is a great start, it's important to dig deeper. AI can help teachers and students in a variety of ways. It can help teachers create educational content connected to the curriculum they are responsible for delivering, generate quizzes, organizers, and activities. Using AI to do those things can provide teachers with more time to engage with their students.

Teacher working with AI to prepare lessons. Image created using Midjourney AI.

Students can use generative AI to generate exercises to help them gain a better understanding of the content they are learning in a personalized way, assist with writing tasks by providing relevant prompts, and provide inspiration/guidance/feedback with whatever topic/subject they are working on. 

The examples above are just a few of the ways in which generative AI can support teachers and students in various educational tasks. It is important to note that while generative AI can provide valuable assistance, it's important to note that its use is maximized and made more valuable when used in conjunction with humans that can ensure the AI tools are implemented properly and used effectively.  

To this end, I was fortunate enough to attend an event put on by CUE.org (poster below) and two of the main takeaways that I grabbed revolved around the use of AI to augment the amazing learning happening in classrooms all over the world AND that we must continue to build up and foster our students to be critical thinkers and great citizens who will make the right choices to benefit humanity.  

"...today’s AI is useless in two significant ways: it has no creativity and no capacity for compassion or love. Rather, it’s “a tool to amplify human creativity.”" 

Image from tweet by CUE (https://twitter.com/cueinc/status/1658985984518770694)

The use of AI in education is not to eliminate teachers or have students learn from and with computers, it is to 1) give teachers more of the one resource they never have enough of: TIME, and 2) provide students with every advantage we can for them to learn to their full potential so they can make our world a better place. 

With those takeaways in mind, let's change our perspective to harness the power of AI as it shapes the future of humanity across nearly every industry.