Credit: Pexels / Mikhail Nilov
Finally, AI is here, and it’s going to change the landscape of education in classrooms around the world.
Students will be able to engage technology in ways that would have Socrates rattle in his sandals.
AI is everything that teachers have been waiting for — but isn’t that what they said in the 80s about the first computers in the classrooms, that they would forever change teaching? Then the Internet was to provide global educational access. Broadband created the connected classrooms, followed by every child having a laptop, and now an AI bot agent for every student. All this will surely erase the digital divide.
However, after all this, Johnny still can’t seem to read.
AI is considered a game changer by being a kind of personalized tutor, a digital know-it-all. Now that is something special, but Johnny still can’t seem to read. If Johnny can’t read, then maybe he might not be able to spell correctly, still having problems writing letters, and in some cases, Johnny might have a hard time staying focused, or he’s simply hungry, but teachers are told by tech companies that AI is here to solve all of Johnny’s problems.
AI is everything that teachers have been waiting for — but isn’t that what they said in the 80s about the first computers in the classrooms, that they would forever change teaching?
Since I’m an early adopter and researcher of everything ed tech and have implemented digital tools in the classrooms for all of my 27 years of teaching, I learned that Johnny gets tired of sitting in front of a keyboard or speaking to a screen wearing headphones one size too small. And, after a few weeks or months in a digital classroom, Johnny misses sitting with his teacher and having human interaction, just as anyone who sits in front of a screen all day.
Remember, kids are resilient and creative, but when Johnny gets a little bored, he actually might figure out how AI can entertain him in a way that’s not included in the teacher’s lesson plan. But what if Johnny does not have a visible problem at all? What if Johnny is just a slow reader, or gets nervous when taking the extremely stressful standardized test before internalizing the lesson or being taught the content?
I also wonder if AI’s text-to-image or video generator will rob Johnny of believing he’s the next Picasso or the greatest artist in the world after comparing the AI’s image with his stick man family or his squiggly lines house or the 3 color Crayola quickdraws that are gifted to most teachers in the lower grades. How about we figure out how to give Johnny just a little more time on task?
Currently, AI has great potential for addressing teachers’ administrative tasks, and in time, AI will have educational benefits for all students, but it should never be a substitute for human interaction or discourse. Right now, it’s the developers, programmers, and AI companies telling us, or better yet, selling us that AI would do everything that the teacher lacks time to do. It’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. And that might be so if Johnny were a peg that could fit into a box.
Early adopter teachers are saying how great ChatGPT is with engaging students and how it gives students prompts while asking them challenging questions. Its audio dictation is amazing except when… Johnny pronounces “ax” rather than “ask” or “deer” versus “there” or when AI gives a wrong response that the students take for a fact, while the teacher smiles from across the room like a beam of light because Johnny is engaged.
You see, if Johnny has no special requirements, he might be able to pronounce all words phonically correct or be from a home that has the means to have current technology and access, then maybe, just maybe, Johnny would have a better experience with his AI interaction, but this may not generally be the case.
Anything is possible with AI except when the teacher allows it to be other than a digital tool in the classroom, and allows it to do the teaching as opposed to the student learning how to control the AI to meet their needs, or when the teacher stays too far in the background.
Because then, despite all the artificial intelligence, generative AI access, laptops, bot agents, tablets, and iPads, in the end Johnny still might not be able to read because he’s still hungry or tired or stressed, and he might miss the compassion, empathy, support and warm smile of his teacher when he gets the right answer.
AI’s time has come, but not at the expense of an experienced educator who knows how to bring life, excitement, and friendship into a classroom.
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Dwight D. McBride, Ed.D., is an educator, researcher, and educational consultant whose work focuses on knowledge exchange in digital spaces, generative AI adoption, assessment, and leadership decision-making in higher education. He taught in the Los Angeles Unified School District for 27 years.
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