Gen AI is such an interesting concept to me because, in some ways, it can be helpful and beneficial, but on the other hand, it can be used to cheat and skimp on actual learning.
When not attached to schoolwork, I find AI to be interesting because there is so much that I do not know about it and there is so much it can do. For example, I asked Microsoft Co-Pilot to “make me a funny picture about AI” and this is what it popped out.
Similarly, during our class activity time, when we were tasked with asking AI a simple general question and then expanding to a more specific question, the questions I chose also demonstrated a good non-school use of AI. Example below in the form of a screencast.
Whether using it for picture creation, learning new recipes, or asking about the weather, AI can make searching and learning easier and quicker! This can be beneficial in the classroom but may pose some drawbacks.
My current L2P class is in Grade 5, and I do not believe there is a reason they should necessarily be able to use AI freely. I do believe that there is a place for AI in this classroom, but only as a teaching moment or a group search led by the teacher, taking into account what my L2P partner commented on my last blog post about working new technologies into our classroom. What I mean by this is that it is good that the students are taught about programs like Chat GTP and Microsoft Copilot, but they must also be taught how and when to use AI safely. Most students will have access to or stumble upon AI platforms on their own, so teaching them how and when to use them is vital. An introductory activity or use of AI in the classroom could be if the teacher opens an AI platform like Microsoft Copilot on the big screen and, together as a class, researches a question or plays with image creation. I do not believe it is appropriate for students this young to use AI on their own because they cannot properly notice or asses possible risk factors and it would turn into more of a distraction then a learning tool. With more education behind it, I believe it can be used more for middle school students when it comes to idea generation, simplification of text, or research purposes.
Personally, I do not use AI for writing my schoolwork or answering test questions, partially because I do not know how to use it but also because I believe in doing the work yourself and proving to yourself and your teacher/professor that you actually know what you are doing/talking about. On the other hand, I do not judge people who use it for whatever purpose because everyone is on their own path, and AI can have positive benefits as well as negative. In the past, I have used AI to re-explain a piece of text that was not clicking and create a mind map to use to assess what I was looking at. The redefining task worked well and gave me a better understanding of my topic, but I found that when asking it to create a mind map, it became more confusing and unhelpful than how I had started.
As you can probably tell, I have pretty mixed feelings about the use of AI in schools and maybe it’ll get clearer in the future after more learning on my part and my thoughts will evolve.
See you later AI-ligator,
-Kristen