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Artificial Intelligence Exploration

Well, I think that since this blog has been about education and technology that it is time to address the elephant in the room: Artificial Intelligence (AI). While AI is not new, it has become almost impossible to ignore. It is beginning to be used everywhere even in businesses and yes, in education. My own district this summer began creating an AI policy, offered an AI book study (which I participated in) and provided the staff with access and training to MagicSchool. 

Before My Exploration

        I won't lie, before beginning my exploration, I did not know a lot about AI. I felt that I had a very basic understanding of AI. Also I knew that I was nervous about it because it isn't a perfect tool and it cannot be used without fact checking. I had heard about hallucinations and that depending on the information given to the AI, it can be very biased. Of course, I also knew about the impacts on the environment. Normally, this would be something I would be thrilled to dive into! As a future librarian, technology is kind of our thing! We're known to be at the forefront of new technologies to provide you with education, guidance and safe practices. However, AI feels different. It has a huge impact on environment, which librarians also try to be really conscious of.

(Image Source: tenor)

        This summer I participated in a book study, Brave New Words: How AI Will Revolutionize Education (and Why That's a Good Thing) by Salman Khan. This book study provided me with some good examples of utilizing AI with students. As a very basic description Salman Khan, the creator of Khan Academy, discusses how valuable and safe Khanmigo is on Khan Academy. Khanmigo is their AI Tutor that can help your student with the skills they need. He describes using it as a conversation tool between the student and a deceased historical figure. For example, you could ask Harriet Tubman questions, but they would have to be appropriate for the time. She wouldn't be able to answer questions about cell phones or modern day life. Another way Khan describes utilizing the AI is to help students write a creative story with the AI as a kind of "yes and" tool, think like improve. You can have the AI give the first 2 sentences and then the student provides the next 2. This helps take away some of the cognitive load for a student that struggles to write independently but is a fun exercise. When I finished the book it did show that there are definitely ways to utilize AI as a helpful tool for students, but I was also painfully aware of his bias as the creator of Khan Academy was defending a tool within his organization.

        At the beginning of the school year, the staff in our district were given access to and training for MagicSchool. I will admit, it appears to be able to do many very cool things. You can upload a rubric and have it grade for you. You can create slideshows and worksheets. It can help with lesson planning, creating tests and so much more. However, so many around me were terrified to use it. I heard mumblings of, "I'm never touching this". It was interesting to see that I am not the only one who is really worried to start using this tool that we know has lots of issues.

AI Exploration

        I decided to explore The ABCs of A.I. Presenter Eric Curts breaks down AI tools and how you can use them to help support you as an educator.

                A - about AI

                B - benefits of AI

                C - concerns about AI

        In the About section he explains where the information comes from and then gives tons of examples of different AI tools and what they have to offer. Curts shows examples of classic tools as well has tools for AI chatbots, prompts (which would include MagicSchool and Khanmigo), student chatbots, assessments (which would include Formative that I recommended in an earlier blog post), grading, tutoring, reflection, differentiation, presentation, file processing, research, image, media and evaluation tools.

        The benefits section describes how you can use these tools to help you as an educator. For example, you can use these tools for content creation: writing emails, creating lesson plans, writing newsletters, creating assessments, creating rubrics, creating slideshow and more. You can also use this for student support: coming up with differentiation, writing an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), accommodations, writing a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) or writing support letters. These AI tools can be used across reading, writing, feedback, debate, tutoring, coding, prompts and so much more! It's the ultimate assistant to help you and save your valuable time.

        Concerns was the section I was the most eager to read, because I know I have my own concerns and I was curious how Curts addressed those. He mentions the top ones from cheating to privacy to biases AI can have to equitable access. Curts mentions that you first need to define what is AI cheating? Which I thought was genius! On the first day of one my graduate classes this semester, our professor had us decide if AI was allowed, and if it was, how much work did you need supplement yourself? We created our own policy for using AI as the students in that class. Genius! I think that this could be done with older students. I think that elementary age students would need lots of modeling before being able to decide how much AI they can use. You would need to show them how to use AI on certain projects or activities by modeling how to use it appropriately. Another idea Eric recommends is making assignments more AI resistant, such as multi-staged projects or assignments that they do mostly in class or integrating more in class discussions and debates. Or by having more project-based learning , peer teaching and group work. He even recommends utilizing AI detection software.

        Curts also gives some resources for different lessons you can do with students to teach them more about AI and ideas on how to engage parents and guardians about current tools and resources available to their students. 

Final Thoughts

        While I don't know if this really changed my perspective, it did show me that are an insane amount of AI tools out there for educators! I do appreciate that Eric Curts gave examples of tools and how you can use them, but also gave practical advice on how to avoid some of the concerns when it comes to using AI with students. I think that I will actively be involved with AI education because of my future role as a school librarian. That means that I really need to start getting in more I practice using it so that it will seem less scary. Hopefully, they will figure out how to make it more environmentally friendly because that is probably one of my biggest concerns!

Works Cited

Curts, Eric. “The ABC’s of AI: What Educators Need to Know.” 

Khan, Salman. Brace New Words: How AI Will Revolutionize Education (and Why That’s a Good Thing). Viking, 2024. 


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