AI in Education: Panacea or Pandora’s Box?
The latest edition of TLN’s practitioner journal offers the input of teachers, leaders and researchers to the debate about AI in education, writes Louisa Callanan.
The latest chapter in the digital revolution can read as somewhat of a dystopian sci-fi: exciting, slightly unsettling, but definitely worthy of a closer look.
Artificial intelligence (AI) at its basic level is the capacity of machines to go beyond the ability to merely carry out programmed instructions, but rather independently choose information from the external environment – including vast data sets – and integrate those resources to achieve desired outcomes.
They do exhibit features more akin to human cognition and thus, to an extent, AI is able to duplicate or replace some aspects of human intelligence.
Understandably, this has brought many challenges and concerns in its wake. From questions concerning dependency and accuracy, to assessment validity, privacy, equity, creativity, its effects on the development of students’ skills and the achievement of educational objectives, AI has provoked a great deal of curiosity and concern in educational circles.
While it promises to potentially relieve teachers of time-consuming and tedious bureaucratic functions – something always welcome in our busy professional lives – it also introduces added demands for educators to grapple with.
In short, AI is a powerful tool, but it is also the subject of a complex and busily contested field of discussion.
The current edition of the TLN journal AI in Education addresses how these issues play out in the broad field of education.
Contributions by Keith Heggart and Danny Liu et al focus on practical aspects in reducing some of the humdrum tasks which take up a lot of non-teaching time; Matthew Esterman and Rod Smith address important implications for student assessment; Travis McKenzie, Sophie Whish and Kael Little explore the effects on creativity and critical thinking; Marino D’Ortenzio and Josh Valeri discuss the importance of a well-constructed framework to effectively guide the implementation of AI; Damian Maher considers the ethical implications of its use; while Tamika Warrell addresses the misappropriation of Indigenous intellectual rights and property, as well as threats to broader cultural sovereignty.
Other articles discuss the implications for leadership and professional development. Most deal with a spectrum of issues.
One thing is clear: AI is here to stay, and it will only become more powerful, probably growing exponentially. There is no doubt that the deployment of AI in education will require thoughtful planning, robust policies, transparency, ongoing support for students and teachers, a constant updating of knowledge and skills and a careful re-evaluation of pedagogical approaches to prepare students for a future increasingly influenced by AI.
Our aim for this edition of the journal is to make a useful contribution to the current discussion around AI in education, and to broaden the understanding of professional educators as we face the future with cautious optimism.
IEU members can access this edition for free, and a back catalogue, at tln.org.au.
The Summer edition, Supporting Neurodivergent Students, will be published in December.
Louisa Callanan is Editor of the TLN Journal and Program Coordinator at the Teacher Learning Network. Louisa can be contacted at lcallanan@tln.org.au