AI and Teaching.
As a teacher navigating the world of online education, I’ve been increasingly intrigued about the role of AI in our learning environment. As are many others it seems. A lot of the initial discourse has been greatly invested in the negative impact AI can have, in regard to plagiarism and academic integrity which are real concerns, but I feel we need to work with the technology as opposed to fighting it or denying its existence, and very importantly acknowledge its usefulness.
The idea of incorporating artificial intelligence can feel a little taboo. However, I personally see it as an inevitability and it is better to shape best practice around it, then live in potential naivety. Lindsay Jordan, Course Leader on the PGCert has a great positionally around it in my opinion, of encouraging people to use it as a tool and removing any stigma around it, which I think is the best approach. Lindsay in her role is representing best teaching practice for many and this permission can be liberating for some.
I see it as a valuable collaborator for both teachers and students. There is the potential to leverage AI and tools such as the Teachermatic to assist in the bureaucratic elements, providing us a greater availability to the students.
For the students, AI has become a tool helping to communicate their ideas more fluidly, either through text or image. Democratising and reducing barriers. For Art Direction students it is about the criticality of the idea and being able to communicate the complexity of it through the tools a hand, we have historically encouraged collaboration with others, and now we are encouraging collaboration with technology like AI. We are having students producing amazing complex projects with these tools.
It is important to note the ethical implications of using AI. From a moral perspective but also a sustainable perspective. Morally the libraries that are sourced by the AI to produce text responses or image generation are not transparent, and maybe unethical sources from un consenting creatives and contributors. The Sustainable ramifications is also problematic, as this is not unoptimised technology, many companies are running as a financial and sustainable deficit right now. AI prompts require a lot of processing power on remote servers that require substantial cooling using fresh water sources.
Reference List.
Saaida, M, B, E. (2023). ‘AI-Driven transformations in higher education: Opportunities and challenges’. International Journal of Educational Research and Studies, Volume 5, Issue 1, 2023, Page No. 29-36