As both (a) an Instructional Designer who cut his teeth on leveraging (early) AI to improve education/training and (b) the spouse of a teacher in our local school district, each day I am confronted with stories from the news outlets and tales from the frontlines about the promises and perils of AI for students and teachers.
The recent announcement by OpenAI that they will provide K-12 teachers access to a free version of their flagship ChatGPT product has reignited my dual excitement and reservations about how this new technology can vs. should be adopted in schools.I know myself well enough to resist the siren call of quickly aligning with either end of the "utopia/doomsday" spectrum in exchange for a purposeful and thoughtful "pause" while critically entertaining arguments from all sides. I've long been a believer in Amara's Law (new technologies are overestimated in the short-term and underestimated in the long-term) and feel that AI is a strong case example, but I'll admit the pace this technology is advancing is unlike anything I've seen (including the internet/WWW). This breakneck speed of product and version releases may present a (semi) unique challenge to the benefits of slowing down to contemplate/debate/weigh the pros and cons we are confronting. There may be a real risk of slipping into extended philosophical discussions about whether the light in the tunnel is a new vista of opportunity or an oncoming train as we speed towards the tunnel's opening and we are forced to live with the ramifications of our (hasty?) decision.
I also recognize how it may not be fair to frame this as a binary fork in the road - there may be several shades of gray that are available for society between the black/white extremes. Perhaps we can learn from past predictions of the impact of previous technologies (radio, television, calculators, computers, the internet, etc.) on education, and reflect on the hindsight true impact they provided, both positive and negative? Very few advances can honestly be seen as "silver bullets" with no downsides, so it may be a matter of thoughtfully identifying what is gained vs. lost with each new offering and deciding if the benefits outweigh the costs.
Similarly, however, there is value in being realistic and pragmatic about how it's difficult (impossible?) to "put the genie back in the bottle" once it has been released (think: the atomic bomb, for instance). AI, in some form, is here to stay and our grand/children will never know a world without it. We cannot afford to wistfully lament about "the good ol' days"; we must actively engage with the knotty issues AI presents us and not allow others (tech companies, government representatives, academics) to dictate a future we simply must passively accept.
I fully enjoy reading the various perspectives that are shared on LI (see: Gary Stager, Ph.D. and Chris Riesbeck as but two examples) but I also think it's important to include the voices of "the common wo/man" in the debate. PBS recently had a thought-provoking story on this topic that included thoughts from a variety of perspectives, ranging from an MIT professor to everyday parents. I encourage watching the short clip.
I fully enjoy reading the various perspectives that are shared on LI (see: Gary Stager, Ph.D. and Chris Riesbeck as but two examples) but I also think it's important to include the voices of "the common wo/man" in the debate. PBS recently had a thought-provoking story on this topic that included thoughts from a variety of perspectives, ranging from an MIT professor to everyday parents. I encourage watching the short clip.
Please share YOUR thoughts on where your instincts are leaning, why, and what sorts of practical steps can be taken to inject thoughtful and inclusive debate to balance the rocket ship AI has become in our lives (educational and otherwise)!
Thanks for your willingness to share your wisdom with the crowd...
Thanks for your willingness to share your wisdom with the crowd...
