A year of AI in Education

Any guesses for the Collins Dictionary Word of the year? It’s “Artificial Intelligence”. Cambridge went with Hallucinate (AI imagining up fake data). Curiously Oxford has gone with “Rizz” https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/dec/05/dictionaries-word-of-the-year-merriam-webster-cambridge-oxford

It’s been an interesting learning journey this year considering the implications AI for education, work, learning and society and our sense is it isn’t hyperbole to say this technology will shift our world in as transformatively a way as the invention of electricity.?

Our whole team has joined many national and international events on the topic of AI in education, including facilitating a session with Australia’s education system Chief Information Officers, a Nationwide AI in Learning Design lab with educators, MCing the first AI in Education conference, and many keynote with school principles. Along the way we have very much opened our minds to what might be possible (always with a human-centric focus).

Here are the top 10 reflections so far (written by humans and not by AI)

1. AI is best used to enhance and augment, not replace human discernment. Humans still have the context to be able to assess and make relevant what is produced. Prompt engineering has been a tangible way to make AI more useful and became a discrete skill in 2023.?
2. AI does genuinely save time! It produces a useful synthesis that can act as a starting point which can be edited and iterated. Our advice is to dive in, get familiar, fail forward, be a great student. Help create awareness of how it can best support you.
3. Like most innovations there is the learning pit and the implementation dip. AI tools (and increasingly AI agents) will save time in the medium and long-term, but we need to reskill and invest time learning how to deploy these tools well through prompts, personas, tips and tricks.
4. We can use AI to ‘save us time’ but let’s ensure we have a clear learning intention behind its use. Rather than running towards an old paradigm, how might AI support educators to create greater equity in learning experience with better personalised instruction and an overall engaging experience?
5. We humans are still in the driver’s seat (for now) and control the source of the data (the Large Language Model? - LLM that is used) and we get to control what is produced (based on how we word and frame a request).
6. Safety is a key consideration. Reading the terms and conditions about how the system, tool, app, will work is critical. Work with your schools and systems to understand the Australian Framework for Generative AI in Schools.
7. Our roles as teachers are shifting from knower to expert inquirer and connector. Students will continue to need this guidance, support, and a trusted advisor for discernment and to validate information. Perhaps less knowledge and more wisdom, less direct instructor and more learning architect.
8. There are ethical questions rising to the fore in both the potential and limitation of this technology. Are we excluding groups without access to AI? Are we excluding groups by using AI (those who have no WIFI). What is the bias in the information available in LLMs?
9. Avoiding vs Embracing. Banning does not necessarily enable schools to prepare learners for life. Education can be set up to avoid or disable AI OR setup to embrace, invite and allow reflection and practice of discernment.?
10. Finally, as we reach the top of the hype cycle, we must remember the real human experience in classrooms and community - how do we enhance learning and augment teaching in education? The relational dynamic between educators and students remains the critical factor, especially as more students opt out of school. Research shows students feel a lack of meaning in their lives - technology will not help them find this. Humanity and connection first, let’s frame our inquiry around how technology can support this happening.

10 Key reflections from us. No doubt these will be different again in a few month time and we’d love to hear your thoughts of your triumphs and challenges.

We’ve also had such great feedback from those who joined us for our AI in Education Design Lab this year, shifting their practice and mindsets about how AI can support the learning design responsibilities where they currently spend their time. Many also reflected about being more open to the possibilities of what else AI can do to support the teaching and learning experience, while still maintaining a human-centred approach to education.

With our first Lab being such a success, we’ll be running the design lab again in 2024. If you’d like to join us, fill in our EOI form and we’ll share when our dates are finalised.

Thanks for what you do in education and learning - see you in 2024.?

Louka Parry Anne Knock PhD Amie Fabry PhD Renee Kirkman