Page 48 - EW JULY PDF

Teacher-2-Teacher

Managing AI

advantageously

LAWRENCE FRAY

ATIONS ARE VYING FOR ARTIFICIAL INTEL- All school teachers must become
LIGENCE (AI) supremacy, businesses are har-
nessing it for their own ends and educators need familiar with Chat GPT as soon as
Nto come to terms with it. It’s clear that its poten- possible. They should utilise its speedy
tial benefits can revolutionise teaching-learning processes,
improve learning outcomes, and facilitate student success. capability to produce lesson plans,
It can help teachers plan, assess and evaluate learners as worksheets and assessments
groups and individuals, and enable them to draw important
inferences from student data to inform their own teaching
and formulate plans for whole school development. sheets and assessments for specific age groups on any topic
Chat GPT. Chat GPT is an AI chatbot that provides con- when properly prompted. Moreover as a lesson planning
versational responses based on its immediate evaluation tool, it is truly a blessing.
of the user’s requirements. However, the responses need Practice. The teachers’ community should accept that
to be checked before incorporating them into any official Chat GPT can do homework, projects and assignments ef-
communication as Chat GPT can, and does, make mistakes fectively if an enterprising student prompts it with appro-
although it continues to learn and improve. Download it to priate vocabulary. However, at the time of writing, Chat
your computer and your phone and ask it what you will; GPT’s work cannot be submitted in its raw state. Obviously,
it’s always ready to help. And, at the time of writing, it’s Chat GPT’s output needs to be read through and properly
free-of-charge. checked. But one must bear in mind that AI is always learn-
Chat GPT is becoming popular because it can interact ing and its database continues to evolve.
with students as smoothly as a human. It can match its com- The discerning teacher should be able to differentiate be-
munication level to the learner’s so there are no barriers to tween authentic student output and AI-generated answers.
comprehension. Better still, the learner’s self-confidence But doing so is likely to lead to much classroom tribula-
increases as she is in charge of terminating the conversation tion and argument. Instead, a form of flipped, or blended,
at the click of a mouse. learning will become prevalent, where homework is used
Students can certainly use AI to improve learning. It has for class preparation in answer to a series of prompts from
become the quintessential tutor with an ever-expanding da- the teacher, and the classroom becomes a place for learn-
tabase greater than any individual could have hoped for. ing verification, collaborative work, presentations and feed-
Inevitably, there is a downside. Chat GPT could be used back, and individual target setting.
to sidestep the learning process by commanding it to churn Assessment. Curricula which incorporate assignments
out essays and solutions without the student making the into summative grading have good cause to be worried. The
necessary effort to engage with the teacher’s lessons. Yet a safest ways forward are: no assessment without supervi-
basic law of education, which states that ‘effective learning sion, coursework plus viva (discussion with the teacher),
is proportional to effort’ cannot be circumvented. True, in and presentations to the class with questions to follow.
a matter of seconds, Chat GPT can provide a completed as- Evaluation. This is another blessing for teachers and insti-
signment that otherwise would take a student substantial tutional managements. AI can provide meaningful data in
time and effort to research and produce. But such misuse several formats, allowing for effective data-driven learning
of AI-based learning platforms not only replaces proper that identifies individual strengths and weaknesses. Such
learning with easy solutions (with disaster looming when powerful methods of tracking student progress allow teach-
examination time comes around), it also hampers the de- ers to adapt their teaching to drive student success. How-
velopment of critical thinking and problem-solving skills of ever, it’s important that the collection and use of student
students. More seditiously, it can trivialise the importance data must be transparent, ethical and explained in keeping
of teacher-student interaction. with best educational practice and legal requirements.
In short, there are great differences between a student’s Soon, schools will be compelled to issue policy state-
use of Chat GPT to clear doubts and another who deploys it ments on the use of AI. Rules should advise them to resist
as a homework-generator. Like all discoveries throughout the temptation of using AI as an ‘easy fix’. Support should
history, it is the user’s intention, rather than the creation be provided by way of seminars on the proper use of AI to
itself, which determines the consequences. students and parents. A consensus should be derived that
Against this backdrop, let’s examine the role of AI in four AI-generated output should not replace learning to the det-
main areas of the teaching-learning transaction. riment of developing students’ cognitive capabilities, criti-
Planning for learning. All school teachers must become cal thinking and problem-solving skills.
familiar with Chat GPT as soon as possible. They should (Lawrence Fray is a Gurugram-based educational consultant, teacher
utilise its speedy capability to produce lesson plans, work- trainer and curriculum designer)

48 EDUCATIONWORLD JULY 2023