Artificial Intelligence: How Should Teachers Navigate The New Tech Revolution?
By Gemma Clark
Artificial intelligence has already changed the nature of the way education operates. Gemma Clark examines the ways that AI can be transformative both for teachers and students.
Artificial Intelligence is here, whether we like it or not. Although it may reveal my age, I was at school when we first began to learn how to use this new phenomenon called ‘the internet’, which was apparently going to revolutionise the worlds of business, education, and beyond. I grew up amidst concerns about plagiarism, copying and pasting, and the fact that essays could be purchased online (which they could). It is difficult to imagine today’s world without the internet, and it would be unthinkable to suggest that teachers and pupils shouldn’t be using it. The AI genie, too, is already out of the bottle. Whatever our thoughts or concerns about this new technology, it is not going away. What we need to do is learn to adapt to it. As a self-confessed technophobe, I have found AI to be a very useful tool.
I have discovered numerous ways AI can assist me as a teacher. I haven’t subscribed to any paid services; instead, I utilise free AI applications such as ChatGPT and Open AI (many features on Canva are also free if your school does not provide a subscription). If you are in a school that is short on resources, AI is your friend. If you have various maths groups to cater for, AI can assist with differentiation. It can generate questions on the specific part of the curriculum you are teaching (e.g., dividing by 7) with a simple prompt like, “Give me 12 maths questions using three-digit numbers divided by 7, including the answers.” A straightforward app will provide the questions and answers, which can be easily copied and pasted into a Word document. You can then prompt it with, “Create football-themed word problems based on these questions,” and AI will generate the customised questions. With a little experimentation, you can quickly see how AI can cater to your pupils’ interests.
AI can also aid in literacy planning. You can prompt an AI app to “Write me a good example of a persuasive letter arguing why fireworks should (or should not) be banned, using a range of sentence openers and persuasive language.” AI will swiftly generate a decent draft that you can adapt to your preferences. However, one important tip is to always specify that the app should “use British English spelling and conventions,” or it may default to American English (though children often find it amusing when we adults make such mistakes).
AI can even assist in planning other parts of the curriculum, such as history lessons. This can be a lifesaver for new teachers who may be teaching areas of the curriculum in which they lack expertise. For example, you can ask an app to create a block of World War II lessons suitable for 12-year-olds, and AI will generate some excellent ideas. However, we must remain aware that AI reflects the world around us and tends to default to a Eurocentric perspective, often neglecting women’s history. AI can help you create engaging lessons on women’s roles during the war or the contributions of the Indian army, but you will typically need to prompt it specifically to “include the role of the Indian army,” as it may not do so otherwise.
It is worth considering the inevitable pitfalls that new AI technology will undoubtedly bring. I have become accustomed to children asking, “Why do we need school when we can just Google things?” I take this question seriously when it arises, as it is crucial for children to understand the value of learning and what education is truly about. Undoubtedly, children will soon begin to wonder why they need to produce pieces of writing when an AI app can do it for them. Once again, we must think ahead and be prepared to discuss the importance of genuine learning over shortcuts, and how AI-generated content is of little value if we do not understand it or even agree with it. Important conversations about fact-checking, how we do this, and whether AI can truly provide us with all the information we need (World War II serves as a pertinent example) must take place.
I see immense potential for AI to act as an equaliser in education. While I do not believe AI would be a substitute for home tuition, for the first time, children from diverse economic backgrounds—provided they have access to even the most basic devices—now have a tool that can explain concepts to them. A simple app can not only provide answers to maths problems but also teach students how to work out the solutions. A pupil can copy and paste (or even use the camera feature) to input their writing into an app and request feedback on ways to improve it. AI can assist in checking grammar and spelling and can explain what corrections have been made and why. Many children would not typically have access to such support at home, and perhaps instead of shying away from AI, we should consider teaching them how to use it properly for educational purposes. Of course, all this depends on the child’s age, but we must remember that a large number of children use Snapchat, which already incorporates an AI bot. As for teachers, I recommend experimenting with simple apps. If you’re wondering, “Could AI help me with this?” simply ask it, and you may be surprised at how much it can accomplish.
I believe that AI is poised to be as revolutionary as the internet and social media. As teachers, we cannot—and arguably should not—pretend that AI isn’t here. It is here, and young people will use it. It is rapidly becoming part of our role to understand AI and to help our pupils understand and utilise this technology effectively.
You can read more by Gemma Clark here.
