It’s been a wild ride this semester! It was hard for Rahima and I to pin down the highlights of this semster but below is our final thoughts. We want to say thanks to all our classmates and to Dr. Alec Couros.
Even though the class was online I felt like we had a great community that was authentic and honest. We hope you enjoy our summary of learning video! It has a mix of video highlights, verbal overviews of a week by week summary, and then we end with our final thoughts of what we felt the purpose of this course was. We essentially feel that Dr. Couros has called us, as educators, to action. As educators since we are in the ear of students, it’s on us to spread cautious optimisim and critical thinking when it comes to teaching our students digital citizenship and literacry!
Thanks again everyone for stopping by and checking out our summary!
This week we had our final debate with the gifted: Rokhsareh & Hanieh, and George & Kanwal. Their topic was Will AI Technologies Revolutionize Education for the Better? This was an interesting topic because I feel like it is really too early to say for sure. On one hand I think that AI tech can save us time and optimize our social experiences so we can have more time to be doing the meaningful things we want to do. However, I see the other side where it can also make us co-dependent on technology and instead of inspiring us to evolve it will make us devolve as a society. Below are the points and overview of each side and my final thoughts.
Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS): AI acts as a tutor and is equipped with plans to assess the learner’s strengths and weaknesses and present appropriate materials considering the student’s abilities.
Virtual Facilitators: They are AI programs designed to make learning procedures easier and more fun like 3D gaming and computer animation.
Personalized Learning: With the help of AI, both tutors and learners can be aware of the process of each student’s progress and more tailored feedback and learning experience can be provided for the students.
Speech Recognition: The application shifts whatever is said in the classroom into written words which are useful for the recognition skills of international students, spelling, and disabled students.
Adaptive learning technology – Virtual Assistant: This assistant provides open-format answers using conversational technology and boosts critical thinking as well as one-on-one teaching and feedback
Availability: At any time in the class, each student is capable of participating in asking or answering questions using chat functions
Online Resources Applying: AI makes it possible for class participants, especially tutors, to use online resources and not be restricted to printed ones. Any questions aroused in class can be resolved by online resources.
Not Lecturing: Rather than individual lecturing in class, teachers may apply collaborative methods to ask students to gain information.
Clear Assignments: Just like in-person classes, assignments can be made clear through AI and it assists tutors to figure out which tasks and assignments were well received by students for further modifications
Ongoing feedbacks: Continuous feedback can be provided to relieve students’ stress and the physical distance does not matter for communications.
The above points essentially highlight that teachers who use AI can be efficient in grading and giving assignments. AI can offer students a more individualized approach to learning which is AWESOME because othersie it would be totally unsustaibable for one teacher to make 25-30 individual learning plans for each student in their classroom. This article shines light on the fact that AI, if used correctly, can be a postive part of education and curriculm design.
Opposition: George & Kanwal
Readings: N/A
I am unable to comment on any additional readings or research as I don’t see anything posted; however, I will make some comments on one of the most interesting points from their opening remarks. The most notable and alarming is the point on Elon Musk’s and Steve Wozniak asking for a six-month pause because of the risk involved in allowing AI to evolve so quickly without regulation. They argue that AI stifiles creativity and does not ingender independent thinking in our students. Kanwal’s point on the definition of education. Why do we teach? She challenges her listeners are we only teaching students to copy and paste from AI robots doing the thinking for them. They also address the ethical and cultural issues that are faced with the emergence of AI technology taking over the classroom. I really appreciated their thoughts and ideas. It was sobering but important.
Final Thoughts
Today’s class debate really summed up everything we have discussed thus far. Is AI good for society or is it bad? I think it’s unknown really and it goes back to the four philisophical viewpoints that Dr. Couros shared with us which is techno-determinism, dystopianism, utopianism, or techno-progressivism. There are many ways we can view technology, but ultimately it really is unknown so we can either be scared and judgemental of it, or avoidant and passive, or honest and upfront with it. I think technolgoy is going to require a society that is not apathetic. We as a people will need to DEMAND that it is regulated. However, Elon Musk argues that it is too late for even that, so who knows.
I am going to take the optimistic approach and let Chat GPT write by emails like Professor Couros and Bart M stated! I think we can use tech in smart ways that aren’t inauthentic or mischevious. Essentially using it in ways to save us time and energy to do what we love, and to be with those that we love! Then to make sure I haven’t lost my edge I will write my own emails every now and then to keep a balance and I think that’s the hope here. Balance.
