‘It has great benefits, but it's difficult for us to assess pupils' understanding': what teachers think of AI
The annual conference of the
Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland
(ASTI) in Killarney, Co Kerry, heard concerns that the potential use of generative
artificial intelligence
– which could write detailed essays on behalf of pupils, for example – could diminish the standard of education.
But what do teachers think?
Natalie Doyle Bradley, a special-education teacher at Chanel College, Coolock, north Dublin, said: 'I use AI for lots of things. I use it for planning. I use it for teaching and my students use it for learning.
'We don't really have any textbooks in special education.
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'So I've developed an app called History Quest, and what I can do is use it if they're doing the Renaissance, for example, in their history class.
'I can write down Renaissance and the student's age. And we're actually brought on an interactive adventure in the Renaissance, where the students can choose their own adventure as well. So they can choose to be a painter, an apprentice, and the app actually will talk them through that.
'And also we can lower the age. So if they find it challenging, we can say, make that a reading age of 10 or make it a reading age of eight. We can also have the app read out the information so it's a story.
'The student is in charge. They are discovering the same key facts that they would through a textbook.
Natalie Doyle Bradley: 'For teachers, for planning, AI is absolutely brilliant.' Photograph: Don MacMonagle
'Sometimes students find it hard to visualise what is happening. But we can ask the app to show pictures of what we are talking about. And they will say, 'Now I get it'.
'We're still in the very early stages [of this technology]. And for teachers, for planning, it is absolutely brilliant.
'For bespoke apps like I'm making and I'm teaching other people to make, it's perfect, because it's a tool for learning. It can be an impetus, it can help.
'But for assessment, absolutely not. We have to be really careful on using it for assessment.'
Maria Markey Greene, of Rosmini Community School in Drumcondra, north Dublin, is a member of Asti standing committee
'I have concerns about the use of AI in education and especially in the area of assessment. Generative AI is working at a pace that is faster than the people who check these things can keep up to date with,' she said.
'I was asked in September to look at a piece of homework of a 12-year-old and to check whether the student had used AI or not. I could, at that stage in September 2024, check and find that verbatim she had used ChatGPT.
'I kept the piece of homework just for myself as a reference point and in March I went to look it up again. I could not find it because the technology, the algorithms had decided that the words I was putting in meant something else and it generated something else. This meant that I could not trace her [work] back to the original source.
Maria Markey Greene: 'AI can do an entire essay or assessment. And we can't check it.'
Photograph: Don MacMonagle
'A month later and I have AI embedded in my Google, in my Microsoft Edge, in my email and in my school email. AI is now directing me without me asking it to, to write down certain words and phrases and to give me counter arguments.
'So a student who was looking to put down a piece of work where they are critically analysing anything, and they need to find facts and put together their knowledge, the information and critically analyse that, AI has done that for it – for the entire essay or assessment. And we can't check it. '
Riain O'Cianaigh teaches history, CSP and law and politics at Magh Éne College in Bundoran, Co Donegal.
'AI has great benefits, but at the same time there are drawbacks. But at the end of the day AI will not replace the teacher in the classroom,' the teacher said.
'The benefits include personalised learning and teacher supports in terms of creating differentiated resources. You have engagement and accessibility so it is great for students with educational needs.
'You can create multimodal content, audio, video, et cetera, and real-time feedback that can help students before high-stakes examinations.'
'But then in terms of challenges, you have equity and access [issues]. Not all students have equal access to devices or internet.
'You have another challenge in terms of plagiarism and integrity. AI tools can write essays and solve problems, but it is more difficult for teachers to assess genuine student understanding.
'And then you have teacher training and confidence. Many teachers have not been trained in using AI, so you have a risk of relying on it too heavily or avoiding it altogether.'
'It is a tool, not a teacher.'
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