AI is the engine not the driver

The arrival of CHATGPT and technologies like it was inevitable and their continued sophistication is certain.

There are many versions of services like CHATGTP but this one seems to have lit a fire in people’s imaginations.

Technologies that do the work for writers are becoming embedded in our society and the line between technological and human generated output will increasingly become blurred.

For schools and academic institutions the challenge is to validate that essays are written by students and not artificial intelligence for assessment.

One suggestion I have heard is to insist that students write with pen and paper. Not only is this unrealistic, it is failing to acknowledge that education is preparing students for the ‘real’ world. The ‘real’ world is no longer a pen and paper world.

In fact, the key lies in how well students are engaged with learning. Why would they want to cheat if they enjoy the experience of learning?

CHATGPT has done Stylefit, which guides students as they write with real time feedback, a real favour. Students have to think about concepts and ideas rather than regurgitating unquestioned facts as they write. Creative writing, whether it is non-fiction or fiction, will take on new significance in the classroom.

Feedback guides students and encourages them to revise and re-work their writing. This process validates that the work is that of a student and not of artificial intelligence.

In previous centuries the purpose of education was to provide workers for the industrial age. They had to be trained to complete repetitive tasks in factories or work in clerical roles. Over the years the breadth of jobs has greatly broadened.

However, what is of greater significance is that the skills employers are looking for now have dramatically changed.

This means there must be a fundamental shift in what we teach students and how we teach them.

The dictionary definition of teach is to instruct someone. In other words, the teacher is the active deliverer of information, and the student passively receives it.

In today's world students can find most information they need on the Internet just as CHATGPT does.

What they actually need are the skills to know what questions to ask, where to find the information and who to ask for it. This approach actively engages the student and the teacher in a collaborative learning process.

However, it is too much to ask a teacher to engage so intensely with every student in the 30-student classroom. This is where interactive technology can be invaluable. The teacher sets the project and the majority of students get on with formulating their narrative, allowing the teacher to work with any students who are struggling.

As in the case of Stylefit, interactive technology engages the student with relevant feedback without giving them the answers or solutions. In this way the learning process continues.

We need students who are curious, unafraid to express themselves and above all we need them to be creative. If they are creatively engaged, they will learn.

CHATGPT is a tool that searches the Internet and collates pre-existing information into a format determined by the user. If key information does not exist, it will not be included in the output.

How to think independently is not what technologies like CHATGPT deliver. Technologies that engage students in the process of learning will encourage independent, creative?thinking and that requires interactivity.?

CHATGPT is a great thing, but AI continues to be the engine and not the driver.?