19 hours ago
AI and the classroom - what teachers are saying as students head back to school
Sometimes things change so fast that it's hard to keep up.
That is exactly the case with artificial intelligence, or AI. Nowhere is it more of a challenge than for teachers and families as students head back to class.
If you're of a certain age, you remember when math teachers fought against calculators in the classroom; now AI is the modern-day equivalent.
What AI can do is bound only by imagination.
"It is so rapidly changing that I don't think anyone can exactly tell you how it will be used even six months from now," said Point Park University's Associate Dean of the School of Education, Dr. Linda Hippert. "That's how quickly it is changing."
Dr. Hippert said that it's another tool educators have to embrace and learn how to use as a way to help students use it better. She also added that a student using AI isn't cheating any more than if they used Google or any other information resource.
"They begin there, but they can't end there," Dr. Hippert said. "They need to look beyond the information that AI is giving them."
Even AI tools admit that some of their information is coming from open sources and may be wrong, but prohibiting their usage would be hypocritical.
"Our educators are currently using AI, and there are many tools that are helpful to them to become better teachers in the classroom," she said.
However, with AI instruction, there must come an understanding of ethics and integrity.
"If I put something in writing, and it's not my own thoughts, I should be citing my source for that," Dr. Hippert said. "That's what we are teaching."
Dr. Hippert said the world of AI is growing so fast that every time she talks to her colleagues, they're using some other, newer platform. That said, whatever form of AI someone is using, it's great for research and helping with diagnosis in the medical field.
Ultimately, the information must be processed through the human touch and the human brain to make decisions.
