Is AI A Gimmick or Novelty? - My Response
Yesterday I received the below message on my Facebook page, which made me think. The reply I gave is below it.
Apologies in advance about the length of this answer, but I have much to say on this topic. Brevity was never my strong point. 😀
If you’ve read some of my recent posts you may have gathered how I feel about AI. Particularly generative AI and its negative social, intellectual and environmental impacts. From an educational perspective I have worries about the negative impact it may have on teacher professionalism and clearly on our young learners too. There is currently little, if any evidence, that AI improves learner outcomes and yet it feels like it’s been rushed into our classrooms. In my opinion, both teachers and learners are being treated like ‘guinea pigs’ in an experiment to see whether AI has any positive value in learning. If it has any learning benefits then let us see properly independent, peer reviewed evidence first, then we can introduce it into the classroom, but not before. Sadly, the ‘rush headlong in’ approach has been a reoccurring theme in education throughout my 30 years career.
But, whatever I may personally feel about generative AI, what is clear is that both the Welsh and UK governments are driving ahead with AI policies and encouraging both the private and public sectors to embrace AI. The previous First Minister for instance, said that we had to be “creative in terms of how we teach in the future, including the use of AI.” They also clearly see AI as a panacea to the issue of teacher workload. The DCF is due to have an update and I would be extremely surprised not to see references made to learners engaging with AI tools. What I hope is that alongside any reference to learners using generative AI, critical AI literacy is at the core of any DCF updates and also should be a core element of any generative AI professional learning courses that are being offered to teachers. If we are supposed to be developing “ethical and informed” learners, then I believe that we need to provide our whole school community with the full understanding of what generative AI is and its effects. If we all have critical AI literacy skills then we are better placed to make an informed choice about when it maybe appropriate to use generative AI and more importantly, when not to use it.
So, back to your question. As much as I really want to say that AI is a gimmick and that the novelty will wear off, unfortunately in the short to medium term, I believe too much has been invested by governments in an attempt to make AI ‘work’. In England, in the next year or so we going to see AI tutors being brought into secondary schools for 450,000 learners. One Welsh local authority has shared with schools their key objectives for AI integration are, for 100% staff AI literacy; reducing administrative workload; and enhancing pedagogy. As mentioned above, I also strongly believe we are going to see it referred to in the DCF. Therefore, it looks like the powers that be are determined that schools see AI not as a gimmick or toy, but something that is going to be embedded into our schools and into the curriculum, impacting all staff and learners.
If you’ve read some of my recent posts you may have gathered how I feel about AI. Particularly generative AI and its negative social, intellectual and environmental impacts. From an educational perspective I have worries about the negative impact it may have on teacher professionalism and clearly on our young learners too. There is currently little, if any evidence, that AI improves learner outcomes and yet it feels like it’s been rushed into our classrooms. In my opinion, both teachers and learners are being treated like ‘guinea pigs’ in an experiment to see whether AI has any positive value in learning. If it has any learning benefits then let us see properly independent, peer reviewed evidence first, then we can introduce it into the classroom, but not before. Sadly, the ‘rush headlong in’ approach has been a reoccurring theme in education throughout my 30 years career.
But, whatever I may personally feel about generative AI, what is clear is that both the Welsh and UK governments are driving ahead with AI policies and encouraging both the private and public sectors to embrace AI. The previous First Minister for instance, said that we had to be “creative in terms of how we teach in the future, including the use of AI.” They also clearly see AI as a panacea to the issue of teacher workload. The DCF is due to have an update and I would be extremely surprised not to see references made to learners engaging with AI tools. What I hope is that alongside any reference to learners using generative AI, critical AI literacy is at the core of any DCF updates and also should be a core element of any generative AI professional learning courses that are being offered to teachers. If we are supposed to be developing “ethical and informed” learners, then I believe that we need to provide our whole school community with the full understanding of what generative AI is and its effects. If we all have critical AI literacy skills then we are better placed to make an informed choice about when it maybe appropriate to use generative AI and more importantly, when not to use it.
So, back to your question. As much as I really want to say that AI is a gimmick and that the novelty will wear off, unfortunately in the short to medium term, I believe too much has been invested by governments in an attempt to make AI ‘work’. In England, in the next year or so we going to see AI tutors being brought into secondary schools for 450,000 learners. One Welsh local authority has shared with schools their key objectives for AI integration are, for 100% staff AI literacy; reducing administrative workload; and enhancing pedagogy. As mentioned above, I also strongly believe we are going to see it referred to in the DCF. Therefore, it looks like the powers that be are determined that schools see AI not as a gimmick or toy, but something that is going to be embedded into our schools and into the curriculum, impacting all staff and learners.
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