AI has been the talk of town in recent weeks, with apps such as ChatGPT taking the world by storm, as social media debates the future of education when such massive streams of information are available at our fingertips. At a recent training symposium hosted by the European Commission Representation in Malta, Dr Patrick Camilleri, a Senior Lecturer in Initial and Further Teacher Training Programmes at the University of Malta, was keen to showcase opportunities for teaching and learning offered by AI. In the margins of the event, organised as part of the EC’s activities throughout the European Year of Skills, we caught up with Dr Camilleri to ask a few more questions about this intriguing development.
What do you consider as potential benefits and drawbacks of using AI in education and how can we ensure that these tools are used in a responsible manner?
AI can open new windows of opportunities for teaching and learning. However, the benefits that it can offer are very much dependent on the nature and qualities of AI and the capability of how the user is able to recognise and channel the technology in question. Different people learn differently. The one size fits all model in education is not good enough to enable everyone to succeed. In this case, data acquired from AI-enabled software can allow educators to identify specific weaknesses in students and also provide tailor-made and individualised teaching experiences to allow students with diverse qualities to find their own path while achieving their learning goals.
Every opportunity requires an element of maturity and responsibility. AI in education can act like a double-edged sword. For instance, the content procured, especially if it relates to written media such as in the case of ChatGPT, may not only be biased but also incorrect. In the case of other generative AI that can easily procure required media, it can in itself reduce the cognitive productivity in students. Thus, while I do believe that the employment of such technology can be useful for teaching and learning, it is very much important for teachers to be prepared to see how best to channel such a technology to procure the required educational standards. Ultimately instead of barring use of such technology, I take this as an opportunity for education to evolve and transform its modality of assessment, allowing more space for student participation and the enhancement of Project Based Learning as expressed in the traits of Education 4.0.
Over the past years, educators have, perhaps with reason, pointed out that the pace of change was too frenetic and potentially destabilising to the classroom. In such a context, how can educators be motivated to embrace such another big wave of change?
In the history of education, it is not uncommon to see how initially technology is not accepted within formal educational settings but then eventually it ends up being employed. However, the pace with which digital technologies are evolving, effectively outpacing their acceptance, may impact their assimilation and therefore the enactment of constructive educational employment. This in itself raises the question of how best to prepare teachers for such a rapid digitally instigated change. Should educators be prepared for the technologies of tomorrow with those of today? Should we try to elucidate and discern how the technologies of tomorrow would be, with the probability of taking teacher training on a tangent and off track? Or would it be better to give them the right qualities to embrace change and subsequently learn to adapt to and eventually adopt these new realities? These are all matters that we should be addressing.
What advice would you give educators who are interested in incorporating artificial intelligence into their instruction, but are unsure where to start?
As a point of initiation, I suggest that educators should primarily start by enhancing the qualities that make us human through the channels they are already accustomed with, gradually including elements of new digital technologies. This will enable them to progressively familiarise themselves with the mechanics and characteristics of these technologies and to gain new insights, share experiences with colleagues but also involve the students themselves who most probably, as digital natives, may be already acquainted with the same or similar technologies. Thus students will be motivated by being allowed and enabled to be immersed in the setting of the learning process. Saying it differently, rather than just passively learning and being perennially on the receiving end, learners will be offered a participative and therefore active role. Subsequently, this participative experience which allows them to learn from their own work and take the driver’s seat will provide a sense of achievement, enabling learning in a more meaningful manner. Incidentally, ‘meaningful’ is a very important word in education. Learning is meaningful when it is understood. Understanding allows learners to relate and bridge what they know with what is not known.
How can we ensure that games and artificial intelligence are used in a way that complements, rather than replaces, traditional teaching methods?
Definitely, and even from what we are already observing, such intelligent machines are being designed to be progressively smarter. This means that we have to learn how to directly benefit from them. Admittedly we are living in the digital age. Our students will irrevocably face a more digitalized future. However, such technologies cannot be seen as a replacement of what we have already achieved through our traditional literacies. The generative applications of AI can also be directed to augment and enhance traditional literacies that will lead towards new opportunities.
In this manner AI will make us aware of issues, problems and opportunities that may have gone unnoticed or were non-existent before their exposure with new technologies. The employment of AI can also nurture unique traits, including flexibility, creativity, and invention. When these are merged with traditional methods of teaching and learning, they can enhance our thinking and make traditional literacies richer.
Ultimately such qualities are the traits that make us human and unique, distinguishing us from intelligent machines. Machines can churn out and process data but we as humans have the ability of interpreting that data.
Creativity is a significant aspect in us. It is also regarded as being an important 21st century skill. But there are also other traits that I believe tend to be taken for granted. These include elements of motivation, awareness of responsibility, originality, satisfaction and decision-making. Educators should seek to facilitate opportunities that will enhance these human qualities, which subsequently will actively involve the learners to move beyond learning procured content. They will therefore be equipped to decide what and how to learn, but mostly to ‘learn to learn’, thus becoming active knowledge builders.
Transform-ED, organised as part of the European Commission’s #EuropeanYearofSkills, is an initiative to facilitate collaboration and knowledge-sharing between educators, industry experts, thought leaders, and trainers on the future of education in Europe.