10 years ago, AI was something found in science fiction movies, times have changed! AI is poised to change the education landscape. AI will change how learners learn, how teachers teach, and how content is delivered. Our group has explored AI technologies and prepared an OER which will provide you a basic understanding of what AI is, where it is used, how it is changing education, and thoughts on future venture opportunities. You can access our instructional content here: http://etec522ai.freehostia.com/
Once you have completed the OER, please post your thoughts, questions, or recommendations in the blog below. Thank you for your time and attention throughout this learning journey.
Opportunity statement:
Most education institutions do not have an AI strategy in place and do not know how to implement one. AI will transform how education systems operate in the future. Institutions need to be involved and supported in AI initiatives to facilitate change.
Great OER Paul and Luke,
I found it very informative. I’m looking forward to seeing how AI will play a role in education. A few ways that I am looking forward to is how it can measure student engagement and taking care of menial tasks for educators.
For example, I can see it being used almost like Corsi analytics in hockey (shots on goal, missed shots, blocked shots) and the analytics in baseball (like the movie Moneyball). The AI informs the teacher that So-and-So is focused between 9am and 10am, does better on multiple choice, and performed better in a particular peer group. There might be valuable data in all that for the teacher to know.
As for the menial tasks, I really like the fact of the AI being 92% in agreement with human markers, and maybe eventually putting together grades for a report card. This is so interesting that it’s letting my mind run wild! Can’t wait to see what happens. Thanks! -Mark
HI Mark – glad you liked it. I’m sure the first order of business for education is having AI automating the admin tasks that take up so much valuable teacher time. I’m sure there are already tools out there to assist. To your point on grading – check out this article – https://hbr.org/2020/08/what-happens-when-ai-is-used-to-set-grades
and the section “what can we learn”. While throwing AI into the mix, they has to be understanding on how the algorithm is developed with the data.
Hi Luke, thanks for sharing that article. It was an interesting read especially when it brought up the point on “appealing the grades.” I had a couple of thoughts, first, a parent just wasn’t happy with their child’s grade (a parent was a contributor to the article), the Harvard Business Review is a great place to lay out a complaint. It will definitely get the attention of IB. Second, and very importantly, if appeals have to be taken into consideration for an international entity like IB, the AI technology isn’t there yet, in my opinion. With rose coloured glasses, I thought it would be. It also brought up a point that I didn’t consider, where the AI is getting the data from. In this case, school level, student level, and subject level. Really interesting stuff. It provided a lot of food for thought for me. – Mark
The videos you sourced for this resource were all so good! I was surprised to learn that nearly 77% of people use AI in their daily lives ALREADY and the prediction that by 2025 AI will take over over half of current work tasks! I found the details pertaining to ride sharing (and food delivery) apps. particularly interesting; it’s so easy to forget the sophisticated technology behind Uber and Uber Eats. I suppose this DOES mean that the same level of sophistication is posed to become more prominent in education fairly soon; perhaps a reason in itself to consider investment. Thanks so much! The information was organized very clearly, navigation was intuitive and I really liked the quick interactive checkins.
Sally, I was also surprised about that usage stat! I had to think about it, but It’s true. My phone, my TV, my internet browser, all use AI. I feel like maybe the 80% might be a bit low! The ‘long version’ of the ISTE video ( https://youtu.be/rSDxkZCcsaU ) speaks about the labor force conversion, and though references are always made to how AI will take over jobs, the same studies highlight how jobs will be created by AI, they will just look different, but the increase in jobs will out way the loses. As the technology advances, and the financial limitations subside, we will see more and more use in general education settings, it’s just a matter of time.
Thank you for positive feedback on the check-ins!
Hi Week 9. As I make my way through the OER, I’m getting hung up on an activity. I’m trying to post for the activity “Amid the concern over AI taking over jobs and the upside or downside of what it can do with education, the potential for AI to do good can be overlooked. Based on the content on this page, what are your thoughts on the future of AI in school, universities and organizations?” The system is saying something I need to vote for at least 1 choice or something like this. Am I reading this wrong? Do I not post my thoughts?
Hi Shaun, it should be fixed now can you please try now! Thank for flagging!
Luke
The topic of AI is intriguing and it is always useful to gain an informed perspective on it. The OER is comprehensive, covering the many facets of AI. This is a wonderful feature of your OER as it allows visitors to explore their individual interests. You presented a lot of research and afforded visitors to benefit from accessing credible information. To organize this information, I would have liked to have more direction upfront in certain sections. For example, affixing a brief description to the many videos you have perhaps would benefit visitors as they can decide beforehand the utility of them for their needs. One of your activities also asked permissions that I’m not comfortable giving and in turn deterred me from engaging in it. Incidentally, in your ethics around AI section immediately below this activity, I was reminded that I’m not the only one who feels this way. On a molar level, although I appreciate your attempt to cover many angles and perspectives, I found some sections in the OER are a bit jarring and worked against the flow of the presentation. Having said this, I found your OER useful overall. I enjoyed learning about the various and vast ways AI is used in our lives and also how Canada has left its footprint. The final page gave us some interesting tools to explore and perhaps even to use in our educational environments. My plan for A3 is to use AI in a specific type of planning. I’ve been jotting points down in the last few weeks, but still in the early stages of my ideas. I expect to return to this OER as I develop my A3. Question: You said on your opportunities page that “AI training solutions have seen a massive increase in development in the past years and training solutions ore getting better and better.” Can you elaborate on the solutions?
Hello Shaun, really the improvements have come on the form of third party providers to supply AI learning solutions, model training optimizations, and in chat bot technologies which makes information and just in time training accessible. We mentioned two companies in our OER, Volley and Cognii, both of which offer corporate training solutions. In my research a found a lot of third party developer integration tools which allow system developers to add ‘plug and play’ AI capabilities to training solutions (walkme.com would be an example of this). There is an interesting article on Synapse which outlines the ROI companies are realizing with investment in AI infrastructure for training and references the advancements which have made this more viable. Development of technologies, and the resulting ROI improvements mean that AI is making significant headway into corporate training systems.
Here is the URL to the Synapse article:
https://getsynapse.com/blog/the-future-of-corporate-training-what-you-need-to-know-about-ai-in-elearning/
I hope our OER helps your A3 project!
Luke & Paul, well done creating this OER. I was impressed at the topic scope of your site, as well as the depth that was covered in each section. My biggest takeaway is that AI has the potential to personalise student learning, and how much of an impact this may have on education. As a teacher, one of my primary goals is to create an experience for my students based on who they are as a person and learner, where they are right now, and their goals. If AI can aid this critical teacher role, I look forward to seeing what this may look like!
I agree Josh, very exciting to see what emerges from the field in the coming years. The potential of the research from Carnegie University, and their goal to get AI model training in the hands of the teachers who will use it, with a one to one time commitment, is very exciting. AI use in learning support, as shown by the Century Tech and Knewton Alta solutions, means that teachers can focus on the social aspects of learning and generally do a much better job supporting the social emotional gains that students need to be successful in their futures. Overall the capacity for AI to bolster the performance of all learning partners will be the real gains contributed by this technology to pedagogical practices. Thank you for engaging with out OER.
Hi Paul and Luke,
First of all, great OER! It was all very informative and I enjoyed the videos that you have included. AI is a big and complicated topic, but you have done an awesome job in breaking it down and making it clear and easy to understand. As a teacher, I am excited to see how AI can help with marking and grading in the future. I love teaching, but the reporting part is always so time consuming and not very exciting. Your OER is one I will refer back to and share with others to explain about AI. Excellent idea in having the Padlet at the bottom of each page for us to provide feedback. Thanks for the activities at the end of each page to help with review and check for understanding. Last thing, while reading, I did notice a few spelling errors (yes…being the teacher that I am). Before reposting, it would be good to do a read through (i.e. there is spelled their).
Thank you for the ‘heads-up’ on the spelling, I went through and made some changes. We appreciate the time you spent reviewing this material.
It will be a dream come true when a report card writes itself, can you imagine!
Great OER, it was very informative and your videos were interesting and to the point. I really enjoyed the orchestra haha it had me on my feet, that was a great way to wrap it up. The areas you mentioned for potential growth are definitely areas I see potential that could decrease the burden of teachers!
The activity poll for “What does the future holds” is not working properly, everything else appears to operate as intended. Thanks for Sharing!
Thanks Analesa, I’m glad at least one of the activities got you up and about. I think there will be a big push in education post covid that bring in AI tech in some form for schools. The fact that people are working from home and online learning is going to be a hot topic for a few years. The idea if that would stick is dependant on school boards and the politics that will surround it. Can you check the poll again as I see people already filling it. Let me know.
Thanks!
Luke
Hi Luke and Paul.
Your OER covered a wide range of topics involving AI which is a huge undertaking. Thank you for providing us with this informative OER.
I personally enjoyed the info you provided on machine learning. The video showcasing “teachable machine” is pretty impressive, especially given the fact that no code needs to be written. I have a feeling that programs such as this will find their way in to education more and more. They are a great introduction to the topic, and the affordance will be reasonable in education. Possible even free.
Just my opinion here, but I see more of a market for products that allow students to explore this subfield of AI (machine learning), compared to products involving AI that assist teachers in things such as marking, grading, feedback, etc. What are you thoughts on this?
Thanks Michael! I agree that Machine learning is the bases on where students will gravitate too. Having done an AI course myself, It was all about algorithms and how to provide unbiased data which, when you think about it, is very hard to do. However, everyday research is being done to enhance learning of AI and its challenge. https://deepmind.com/research
Also, check this out – http://perfecttictactoe.herokuapp.com/ and background on how algorithms are used, if you are in for some light reading – https://www.neverstopbuilding.com/blog/minimax
Hey Luke,
Thanks for sharing those links. On https://deepmind.com/research I checked out how AI is used in predicting the folding pattern of protein structures. Really cool stuff. It went on to discuss proteins in the corona virus that did not contain much research. The structure makeup of one particular protein was able to be understood much better thanks to the software. Obviously this highlights potential importance of understanding possible future viruses. Who knows where future students will use AI in their careers. It almost seems like there is a possibility is can be a part of any career path. As a teacher it makes me think about what content is valuable exposure for my students. Perhaps I should look an AI’s impact in the trade world. Thanks again!
Hi Luke and Paul, well done on your OER. I was impressed by the amount of information you had for each topic and all the supporting videos you found and included- thank you! AI is without doubt becoming more and more involved in our daily lives and will be a huge up and coming ed tech. As a teacher, one thing I’m looking forward to is AI powered grading systems. Giving constant feedback to students is a major key in learning, and I find that I sometimes have to pick and choose what I am evaluating due to limited resources and time. For example, if I assign a “reflection”, I would oftentimes put less emphasis on spelling and grammar because the point of assigning the reflection is to know their thoughts and understanding of a concept. It also makes my grading so much quicker, which is a big bonus. Having a program that would be a able to assess all aspects of a work (understanding, spelling, grammar, etc) would not only save me time, but would allow students to receive more holistic feedback faster, and would provide more personalized learning opportunities. From your research, do you think that entire school districts would be able to start investing in AI technologies given its price point and current interest?
Thanks Tiffany, I don’t work with K-12 but i do know for performance evaluation at my work, we have an HR system, not AI yet, but i notice when managers fill out performance evaluations, there are so many boxes to go through to fill in text. There are what we call “helpers” of commonly use words to describe roles, behaviours, actions already in a table that managers can just click to add to their summary that help them reflect on their employee easily based on commonly pooled words. Also the system auto spells check for them. I’m sure this HR system will undoubtedly get more complex in learning about employee performance over time and generating and analyzing the data on performance based on those keywords and text. I’m sure systems and ideas like are used in some instance and capacity in organizations. 🙂
Hi all! I loved the information I was given. It was very to the point, and the visuals/videos were useful. I would have loved some more hands-on experience/examples of AI to really highlight its many in society uses. Overall great job! I would think about adding next/back/back to top buttons as it was a little annoying to navigate.
Hello Simin, we will address the bottom controls deficit for our OER. Thank you for the feedback.
I am attaching a link to an AI resource from ISTE which provides lesson plans for elective teachers to implement AI lessons.
https://cdn.iste.org/www-root/Libraries/Documents%20%26%20Files/Artificial%20Intelligence/AIGDEL_0820-red.pdf
Sometimes it’s nice to have a resource that can be used right away. At the very least, the process of going through the lesson content will help develop understanding of opportunities for instruction.
Hi Luke and Paul, thanks for putting this together. I really enjoyed going through all your resources. The videos were very informative and it is motivating to complete the short activities after each section. One of the points that struck me is that it is NOW that we are at the crossroads. As teachers, we play an important role in shaping our future society. We should rethink and effectively restructure our education to ensure that our future generations realize the importance of aligning AI systems with human values. I am also impressed with what AI can do in terms of accessibility; AI seems promising in delivering education to learners with diverse needs. However, my concern lies in the affordances of AI. With the current price point, will schools invest in AI education? Will teachers rely exclusively on AI’s suggestions without considering additional factors in helping students (for example) in course planning? AI’s algorithms may automate suggestions based on student’s gender, according to names, resulting in gender bias. Based on your readings, is there (has there been) any venture opportunity that emphasizes ethics in AI? I might be wrong, but I feel that while AI could be a great augmentation to a teacher’s role, it can never be a replacement.
Hi Connie, i have not seen any ventures in ethics for AI. However, I agree with a report that states that “experts doubt that ethical AI design will be broadly adopted within the next decade. In a survey of 602 technology innovators, business and policy leaders, researchers, and activists, a majority worried that the evolution of AI by 2030 will continue to be primarily focused on optimizing profits and social control and that stakeholders will struggle to achieve a consensus about ethics.”
https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/06/16/experts-doubt-ethical-ai-design-will-be-broadly-adopted-as-the-norm-within-the-next-decade/
Hope the above reading helps and thanks for bringing this up!
Hi Luke, thanks for sharing the article. It is disappointing to learn that it is not even within the next decade that we will adopt ethical AI designs. Having said that, I came across this article that shares how some companies such as “Google, Facebook and Microsoft are working on AI ethics”. It does give us some insights on what we could do in terms of AI considerations if we were to run a company. https://www.forbes.com/sites/glenngow/2021/07/11/google-facebook-and-microsoft-are-working-on-ai-ethics-heres-what-your-company-should-be-doing/?sh=2e25f815aa64 It seems hopeful that while it is not possible to expect major impactful changes, we could still begin the little changes within ourselves.
Hi Luke and Paul, Thank you for a great OER on AI. I enjoyed the dept of the analysis presented on Artificial Intelligence. Most especially, I am very ethusiatic about AI in education. In my padlet post, I referenced IBM’s Watson, which is a tool I learned would help educators gain insight on student’s learning and also serve as “Siri” for the classroom. I think there is a gap in education on tools that would help teachers do their job easily with all the information there need at their finger tips. AI can help fill this gap, through learning students educational choices, predictive analysis and enabling student success.
Thanks Philip! I’m glad we were able to capture the essence of AI at least. When it comes to education, there are some tools also to help teachers and institutions.
https://roboticsbiz.com/top-6-ai-tools-for-education-learning-made-simple-and-fun/
I wanted to highlight gradescope as few of us mentioned it in the forum posts – https://www.gradescope.com/
Gradescope is a feedback and assessment platform that streamlines the tedious parts of grading. It combines deep instructor expertise with the latest machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) to dramatically reduce the pain and time associated with traditional grading.
It helps instructors save time by outsourcing the review and grading of assignments and actually have some time to teach. It enables instructors to grade paper-based exams, online homework, and programming projects on one platform. Gradescope accelerates consistent and unbiased grading and presents meaningful statistics to help identify class trends and student needs.
Impressive OER, Paul and Luke. I really love how comprehensive and informative the project is. The fact that each part is concisely rendered with short videos and quick notes, which made the browsing smooth and friendly. Regarding AI, I cannot stress enough how dramatically AI has revolutionized the ways machines and robots interact with humans and process data. This is probably the biggest technology that will impact the way we experience the world in the future. The upcoming 5G will be groundbreaking and AI will help people overcome the language barrier and overcome most of, if not all, their physical limitations. However, I am not sure the educational institutions are preparing the learners well on digital citizenship competencies. In other words, “cyber friends” and “Wigl” are nice gestures, but in-depth education on this matter is still lacking and way behind. Moreover, ethical concerns should not be ignored. First, there is privacy. The Chinese brainwave reader that is attached to the students’ heads to check their attention and focus is ethically questionable. Adding to that, the access that almost only the giant AI companies will have on personal data_with the coming of “the internet of all things”_ is going to track the actions of citizens and strip the public from any underlying rights, most importantly, with their own consent. Secondly, how can values such as empathy, motherhood, sacrifice, and equity be executed with the domination of robots over humans in the vocational and academic fields? Clearly, QTrobot can help autistic learners overcome some challenges, but can it replace the role of the loving mother or the inspiring teacher? Can AI create a robot with leadership qualities and a charismatic unique personality. The movie “Her” tackles these issues in a dramatic way, and it worth studying as a manifestation of how limited can AI be in certain areas. Finally, while the machines are becoming smarter, the humans are developing lazy habits, for they overly rely on smart technology to do even the most basic tasks, such as navigating from school to home or reminding them of a grocery shopping list of merely 3 items. A close look at those lazy habits raises concerns on how much comfortable and easy can be destructive to the human brain. Are we becoming smarter or just tech-savvy?
Feras, great post! You have many very good points. The privacy and ethics issues around AI are very much an inhibiting factor for the technology. Unfortunately, the realities and biases that exist in the world or reflected in data collection methods and are extensions of the biases that exist within the contexts which are used to collect data. This is something that certainly needs to be addressed.
Our research indicated that teachers won’t be replaced by AI, but their role will be changed and their responsibilities will shift to more human aspects of learning such as empathy, encouragement, social emotional development (I guess this perspective probably depends on the scope of time being considered). The days of a teacher being a ‘holder of knowledge’ will fade away but advocacy, support, and guidance will become larger parts of the profession.
I liked your last point, “Are we getting smarter or just tech-savvy?” I don’t see this as an ‘or’ statement, though. I am pretty sure that what is defined as ‘smart’ is fundamentally changing and is probably doing so because of technology. There was a time when intelligence was measured by rote memory, but now, in an information age, remembering content is not an indication of intelligence in the same way it use to be because it provides no advantage over anyone with a smart phone. Application of creativity, problem solving, and social skills are becoming the new ‘smart’. So, I would say the answer to the question is that people are getting smarter in different ways, and some of those ways require them to be tech-savvy.
I totally agree on your point about digital citizenship. If we consider the last point I made it is paramount that digital citizenship become part of every classrooms culture and rises above the ‘topic to be covered’ status it currently exists in. These skills should be modeled and be embedded in all pedagogy so they become as familiar as any other behavioral expectation schools afford students. Thank you for mentioning this, it is a topic I feel needs much attention in our current education environments.
Again, great post. I think I will check “Her” as well. Always looking for entertainment recommendations!
Hi Paul. Thank you for addressing the points sufficiently. I agree with you that the concept of ‘smartness’ is ever-changing, and the role of the teacher in the class is shifting perpetually towards guidance and facilitation. As for digital citizenship competencies, I should also add that higher education should change it’s prerequisites and approaches to force K12 institutes to change their policies and focal aspects. Thanks.
Thanks, Luke and Paul. I really like your OER and have learned a lot from it. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the present development trend and must be the future direction. I believe AI is a useful tool for improving education, but it will never be able to replace teachers. Some AI technologies, as Firas said, can help students learn, but they can also lead to being dependency and laziness. So figuring out how to better balance them is crucial in education.
Manghan, I agree with you that AI will be useful for education, and I very much agree with you that teachers will not be replaced. In my experience learning is a social activity, it can be done in solitude, but is most effective in positive learning cultures. In the research we did for the OER we found that most experts actually agree with the point that teachers won’t be replaced. What makes an effective teacher may shift a bit. Where I have some concerns is in the cultural definition and expectations of what a teacher is and what a teacher does. With AI the role of a teacher has to change but societal views may not do so quickly enough. In this scenario I see the potential for crisis, self-identity can be tied up in effectiveness within social expectations, and if what makes a teacher great, is their lecture skills, then we are going to run into self-efficacy declination which may create some degradation of positive learning cultures. As AI moves forward and begins to edge out content holder as a foundation to the identity of teachers, some considerations need to be made to reinforce positive learning cultures through professional learning communities, mentorship programs, or even professional development opportunities.
I am not sure if dependency and laziness are products of increased technology use… Perhaps this is another topic though.
Thank you for participating in our OER. I appreciate the time you spent reviewing the material and formulating this post.
Hi Luke and Paul, very good OER as I learned lots about AI. It was very interesting to look at the pros & cons (benefits & risks) of AI, while reflecting on how much AI is already prevalent in our current everyday lives. It was also helpful to learn from the various videos on your website. You alluded to this point in your OER, but I’m curious about the social factor of students, meaning students can be taught the material from an AI instructor, but there are still human elements of an in-person instructor that AI cannot (yet) replicate… thoughts? Thanks! Joseph
Theory of mind and self-aware AI will not be realities anytime soon. What this means is that AI is limited to the limited memory model which means it can be very good at very few numbers of tasks. When you combine that reality with the social complexities of teaching it is clear that AI will not be able to fulfill all the roles teachers play in a classroom. If we look at teaching as simply the conveyance of information from a teacher to a student, then AI has that capacity and teaching is doomed, but if we look at teachers as social facilitator of learning who addresses both interpersonal and intrapersonal aspects, then we can determine that AI will not be able to fulfill that role anytime soon, if ever. If learning was simply gathering and sharing information then MOOCs would have been a wild success; however, this is not the case. At this point, AI has the capacity to facilitate learning and help teachers use time more effectively; this in itself could be transformative when you consider how much more time could be spent supporting students’ social emotional needs and encouraging deeper constructivist pedagogies.
Thank you for taking the time to formulate this post, you brought up a very good question. As technologies advance, time will tell what the future holds.
Hi Paul and Luke,
Thank you for the OER in AI. I truly enjoyed the site, as it had a lot of good information, and it didn’t feel overwhelming or boring. The activities were very appropriate for each section and were manageable. Thank you for the different videos and the extra activities. The video that was the most interesting to me was the one about “What if your teacher was AI?” The only feedback that I would provide for your OER is to add some examples of current AI companies in education I could invest on, that was one question I was left with after the OER.
Thank you,
Adriana
Thanks everyone for participating in the AI OER this week. We will definitely take the feedback and improve on what we have. Adrianna, I agree that finding AI tools in education is a bit limited, but I posted a link to a response above, https://roboticsbiz.com/top-6-ai-tools-for-education-learning-made-simple-and-fun/, that showcases some existing educational tools. We will incorporate those in the OER. Thanks!
Hi AI team,
Great OER. The setup was very orderly and progressed in ‘difficulty’ by building upon ideas throughout the site. I particularly liked the many examples of businesses in AI on the ‘How is AI changing education’ page.
AI is a huge topic and I feel better equipped now to analyze and compare educational ventures in AI.