2023 has undoubtedly been the Year of AI and the furore that has surrounded developments in that realm have been both noisy and occasionally febrile. While perspectives have centred on everything from predictions of the end of high school English to the end of the world itself, there can be no doubting the very significant challenges that programmes like ChatGPT are presenting to educators.

Informed teachers are highly-trained professionals who do not need to be told that they need to “get with the programme”, but there is enough dissonance as a result of student use of ChatGPT that teachers are being forced to reconsider some core aspects of their work. A recent article by Molly Roberts in The Washington Post articulates the existential nature of this phenomenon succinctly. “AI is forcing educators to rethink plagiarism guidelines, grading and even lesson plans. But above all, it is demanding that they decide what education is really about — that teachers ask, in short, “What are we here for, anyway?” 

The essence of Roberts’ article is an important reminder that the use of AI is not meant to avoid opportunities to learn. The implications of this statement are interesting and largely self-evident. If schools have created cultures of compliance and completion, of grade achievement and content management above a culture of engaging learning in which the joy of learning itself is the ultimate reward, then we should not blame students who seek a shortcut to these base objectives. The complex crux here, however, is that students who do use ChatGPT may actually find an even greater joy in their learning as a result. Like all technology, it’s not the tool itself that defines its value: it’s usually how and why it is used that defines digital worth and we need to explicitly ensure that students understand this reality. The good news is that education systems are now being confronted with the unavoidable need to ensure that the activities students are asked to engage in are meaningful, learning-focused, and sufficiently so in order to encourage implicit integrity and active engagement in the learning process. As Roberts puts it:

“The thing we value most is the learning… The things the machines are worst at are also the things that [we value most]: originality, say, or depth of feeling, or so-called metacognition — the process of thinking about one’s own thinking or one’s own learning. Hopefully, these things are also the most valuable because they are what make us human.”

As schools work to develop coherent policies and approaches to AI, resources like this will be invaluable. Ironically, the opportunities that AI will present will save educators time in the long run and the challenges that it inevitably presents will require an even greater focus on the things we value most about learning.

Notes

Roberts, Molly. AI is Forcing Teachers to Confront an Existential Question. The Washington Post. December 12, 2023.

Photo by Igor Omilaev on Unsplash