Literacy skills are AI skills.
Dan Fitzpatrick
Bestselling Author on AI in Education. Teacher. Forbes contributor. Education Strategist. Trained in Philosophy, Innovation & Design Thinking.
A lot of teachers think that ChatGPT will damage literacy levels
I do not.
I’ve even heard people say that it will make students lazy.
In today’s newsletter, I need to explore why literacy will be vital if students are going to effectively utilise AI in their lives and work.
When I refer to literacy I will be using the broader definition: The ability to read, write, speak, and listen in a way that lets us communicate effectively and make sense of the world
The Problem
Some people think that AI tools like ChatGPT will make students lazy because they will become reliant on them to do their written work.
This will lead to students leaving education lacking basic literacy skills because AI can just do it for them.
The thing is unless students have high literacy skills to start with, they aren’t going to get very far with a generative AI tool.
Anyway, literacy levels are terrible already. So what are we trying to safeguard here?
The question is:
Are we going to allow students to leave the education system with low AI skills as a consequence of inadequate literacy skills or is this an opportunity to simultaneously increase their literacy levels while developing their AI skills?
The Connection Between Literacy and AI
The truth is that the effective use of large language models (LLM) such as ChatGPT requires high levels of literacy. For it to work well, it needs clear and concise language to produce accurate responses. Poor literacy skills can lead to ambiguous communication, which can confuse the AI’s output.
An AI LLM is designed to interpret natural language. Inadequate literacy skills can result in grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and syntax issues that may compromise the AI LLM's ability to comprehend and respond to user queries accurately.
Communicating effectively with an LLM is becoming a major life skill. Those who can do it will survive in the AI revolution, and those who can do it well will thrive.
Why?
Large language models are designed to understand human language and then output a response. So, this means that we will be able to simply explain what we would like to happen or like to be created and AI will be able to do it.
Think this is in the future? Think again.
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What does this mean?
In the AI revolution, creative skills are literacy skills.
Do you see now why literacy will become even more important, not less important?
By the way, the examples I have given above are available right now. What’s to come will change the world.
In?BoredGeekSociety’s recent Medium?post, he explored the work that is being done to connect LLMs to the physical world. Think robots with a ‘ChatGPT’ brain. The ‘Internet of Things’ is about to reach a completely new level.
Melissa McBride ?? the founder of Sophia School, is also working on integrating LLMs into the metaverse, giving users the ability to create new worlds by simply speaking them into existence.
In conclusion, literacy is as important as it ever has been. I would argue more important.
The false dichotomy of literacy versus AI is a red herring.
Both are now intimately connected.
So my practical question to you is:
How can we boost levels of literacy in our students using AI and how in return can we prepare students for the AI revolution with literacy skills?
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Cand.it, lektor & it-p?dagogisk medarbejder. Medstifter af Viden.AI. Foredragsholder, prim?rt om kunstig intelligens i undervisning.
1 年I don't believe that students will become lazy just because ai-enriched teaching material has arrived. The solution lies in the pedagogy and didactics we apply to our teaching.
Programme Leader M.Edu with QTS and Senior Lecturer in Education
1 年What a fabulous article, thank you Dan Fitzpatrick! I think AI brings with it the potential for the REVOLUTION that Education needs, and that Sir Ken Robinson has been talking about for decades!
Assistant Principal & English Subject Lead @ Avanti Grange Secondary School | Leading Teaching & Learning | Championing Innovation, Creativity & Student Success
1 年Hi Dan - what you discuss in this newsletter I consider to be defined as digital literacy. In order for us to build resilient and successful students fit for the 21st century, we will need to address their digital literacy. Those that gain the skills to navigate the digital sphere will undoubtedly gain the upper edge in life - those who do not… well the literacy gap will only widen.
Co-Founder & CEO at Sophia. Transforming Education
1 年The single biggest barriers to entry in learning is when kids have no sense of engagement, interest or meaning in what they are being asked to learn. Ever try getting a kid to read a book they find boring ? It’s painful AI has the power to develop literacy levels on an unprecedented scale as it requires a deep level of questioning and higher order thinking skills to get a high quality output which is the objective of most literacy based tasks. Plus kids absolutely LoVE it. Anything that gets kids excited about writing, creating and developing their ideas should be placed front and centre of learnign. Perhaps we heard the same thing once upon a time when humans went from spoken words and storytelling to books ??