The Disruption of AI

It was one month ago when I first heard about ChatGPT and within the days that followed, the topic was popping up everywhere in my feeds and in different conversations. It has only been 6 weeks since OpenAI launched the artificial intelligence platform and since then has been used by over a million people (New York Times, December 21, 2022)  . The platform is described as a chatbot designed to generate human-like responses, with the ability to write essays (in different styles), produce artwork, write code, compose music, just to name examples from a long list of possibilities (Global News, December 10, 2022). When I first heard this mentioned it was in the form of a concern, wondering how this technology will impact the way we teach, learn and assess

In an effort to better understand its capabilities, I logged into the platform myself and asked the AI the following:

1. What strategies are effective for assessment of student achievement in competency-based education (CBE)?
2. Write a 500 word essay comparing competencies and learning outcomes, with citations.
3. What UDL instructional strategies are effective for teaching about hydraulics.
4. Draft a size 10 bodice pattern. 

I came away with 5 specific assessment strategies for CBE, a thorough comparison of competencies and learning outcomes, including examples, a list of 6 instructional strategies for teaching hydraulics that follow UDL principles, and although it didn’t actually draft a bodice pattern, it did describe measurements and steps to follow. For the most part, the information seemed accurate and reliable, except for the drafting directions…for that I am not convinced that the result would have led to a well fitting bodice. Nevertheless, the results were impressive and were produced in very little time. If nothing else, it produced useful information that could be used as a valuable starting point in exploring any one of the topics. 

Some of the questions that have popped up in my feeds and in conversation include “how might this replace the role of the teacher?” and “how can we ensure academic integrity, when students can access this quality of responses?” Although I have not yet dug deep into the readings, I have read responses from a couple of educators: Dr. Sarah Eaton is a professor, writer, and expert in academic integrity and John Spencer is a professor and author who specializes in Project Based Learning. Dr. Eaton provides an initial response in her Learning, Teaching and Leadership blog and John Spencer has written two recent articles: Human Skills in a World of Artificial Intelligence and No, Artificial Intelligence Won’t Destroy High School English (Or Any Other Subject). Admittedly, I have more digging to do, but as I explore the platform, read these initial articles, and consider my own perspectives and experiences in teaching and learning, I am forming some initial thoughts and curiosities (that are not produced by AI).

Perhaps AI can create the product….the end result, but what about the journey, how do we encourage, observe, celebrate the process, the thinking, the discoveries? The metacognition? 

How do we as educators instill the value of learning? Not so much the what, but the how? 

John Spencer poses question around how do we move beyond student engagement and into empowerment. It's a big question and not an easy one, but when I think about times when I have witnessed students feeling empowered, it has been through those lightbulb moments of discovery, and by that I mean really making connections and understanding how something works or what the impact of a concept is. In this sense discovery pushes beyond knowing a fact or a series of steps, but really making meaning of something through one's own understanding. The “oh, I get it!” moments of joyful learning.

Will AI disrupt how we learn and teach? Most likely it will, but perhaps it will disrupt in a way that pushes us as educators to think of meaningful learning in new, creative ways. It is a challenge, for certain, yet it is not the first technology, nor the last to disrupt how we approach learning and teaching.