Post #4 | Part 1: A.I. in Classrooms... The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

Recognizing the importance as an educator to familiarize myself with AI and the time and place to implement it into the classroom.

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Realizing that I need to embrace AI in education and be proactive instead of reactive, I have been exploring ways of incorporating it into the classroom and school. With this comes pros and cons.

AI offers so many benefits for various stakeholders in education. Directly in the classroom, both students and teachers can experience advantages of appropriate use of AI, including chatbots like ChatGPT.

ADVANTAGES

Students	Teachers
Personalize learning and adapt tasks to learning styles and needs	Support with assessment/evaluation
24/7Tutoring option - less expensive!	Assist with reporting - provides various ways to compose current learning and goals/next steps
​Revision/editing opportunities for writing tasks	Increase efficiency when composing/responding to e-mails
Examine varying perspectives	Writing prompt generator
Assist with problem-solving strategies for social situation - it offers guidance if you ask!	Writing samples and exemplars for various grade levels
Assistance with formulating different types of writing (expository, functional)	Immediate feedback & automated graded
Vocabulary builder	Brainstorming tool for projects and personalization
Reading comprehension tool	Time saving/manage workload
Increased engagement	Assist with calibration of grading
Self-directed learning: increase individual inquiry and research abilities	Cost-efficient education assistance support in the classroom
Vast knowledge platform	Test generation
Language support for English Language Learners	Project-builder, instructions generator
Formative writing feedback	Plagiarism detection
Self-reflection support	Lesson plan

To test the system, some of those advantages were shared from ChatGPT when asked what the advantages were to implement ChatGPT in the classroom (interesting it can relay its benefit!). I then critically examined the responses it generated, reflected on their application, and decided which ones I felt would work in a typical classroom.

Of course, there is overlap between what the Internet could already do, and what ChatGPT can offer, however, it's the speed and accessibility, without the ads and jargon, that I think it will become a popular tool. For example, as a student or parent, they may ask:

Curious as to how ChatGPT could assist me, the teacher, with assessment, I asked the chatbot to offer feedback on one of my own written paragraphs from my last blog post:

I could ask it for more specific feedback, to check for plagiarism, to form a comment for a student, and ask it to suggest a percentage! This feedback is exactly what I would share with students.

With lesson planning, I asked how to teach my students about fractions. It laid it out step-by-step:

There are advantages of utilizing a chatbot and similar AI tools for the school and school board, too. A lot of these advantages support with efficiency and monotonous tasks when analyzing data, determining attendance, composing letters/e-mails, etc.

School	School Board/ District
Support overall improved student-outcomes	Tool to collect and analyze data to make informed decisions
Increased efficiency in the office -attendance reports	Efficiency with communication - newsletter, e-mails, etc.
Improved communication - e-mail composition, etc.	Cost-effective tool
Increase collaboration among teachers	Recourse allocation assistance
Assist with documentation (teacher evaluations, letters of recommendation, etc.)

As I continue reflecting on AI in classrooms, specifically chatbots like ChatGPT, I will continue to add to this post! If you think of any advantages to implementing AI in schools, let me know! I will add them, too.

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References

Tuomi, I. (2020). The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in education. Research4Committees. https://bit.ly/3lCMotK