AI in our schools

‘Artificial intelligence will shape our future more powerfully than any other innovation this century. Anyone who does not understand it will soon find themselves feeling left behind, waking up in a world full of technology that feels more and more like magic.’

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a term used to describe computer systems that can undertake tasks or activities that require features of human intelligence such as planning, problem solving or logical action. AI is not a new field. However, there has been significant interest and growth in the technology over the last decade due to advances in computer processing power, algorithm complexity, and data availability and storage.

Moving forward, practical steps are required to build the capacity of teachers and their students to learn about and with AI and emerging technologies, and to build their capacity to thrive in an AI world. It is an appropriate time to identify opportunities to integrate or strengthen learning about and with AI and emerging technologies within the Australian Curriculum. These opportunities exist within the Design and Technologies and Digital Technologies Learning Areas and in the General Capabilities component with its emphasis on developing student ‘Information and Communication Technology Capability’, ‘Critical and Creative Thinking’, and ‘Ethical Understanding’.

AI and emerging technologies need to be carefully ‘incubated’ in a controlled way in a diverse range of school settings, including rural and low income school communities, in order to identify practical, safety, ethical and technical issues. This ‘incubation’ must be accompanied by robust, theoretically-informed research on their pedagogical potential and impacts of the technologies on learners and learning.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• AI is a term used to describe a machine or computer program that uses features of human-like thinking to undertake a task. AI can be embodied in some robots or disembodied, that is ‘infused’ into computing applications (e.g. internet search engines, social media facial recognition tagging technology). Right now, we have narrow AI which is only able to do the single or focused task it was designed to do (e.g. facial recognition technology);
• AI in school education is still in the early stages of development. Educators need to develop foundational knowledge of learning about and with AI in order to empower students to thrive in an AI world;
• Learning about and with AI will require teachers to understand the economic and social changes that the technology will bring as well as its potential educational uses and ethical considerations; and
• There is much work to be done around the ethical, legal and governance frameworks to ensure that AI technology is used for good, and that transparent processes are in place to ensure accountability at classroom, school community and school system levels.

The above information has been taken from a report published by the Department of Education. Click here to access the full 'AI in Schools Report'.

As published in The Guardian, ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot that uses natural language processing to create humanlike conversational dialogue. The language model can respond to questions and compose various written content, including articles, social media posts, essays, code and emails.

Federal education minister Jason Clare said state and territory ministers have agreed on a draft framework for teachers on how the technology should be used in schools.

"It has not yet been publicly released ahead of consultation with schools and teachers, but recommends an overhaul of assessments to prevent students using such tools to 'bluff the system'," Clare said.

ChatGPT, which generates text on any subject in response to a prompt or query, has concerned many teachers given the potential for plagiarism, cheating and negative impacts on student learning.

Click here to read the full article.